Battle Born
by LordSarahon
Summary: A Zutara fanfiction set three years after the series finale. A group of rebel Fire Nation soldiers attack the Southern Water Tribe, and Fire Lord Zuko must travel to Katara's homeland to help put a stop to the siege. Rest assured, chaos ensues.
1. Chapter 1

**BATTLE BORN**

_You never live,_

_You never learn,_

_You never shine_

_If you never burn,_

_The rising tide,_

_The undertow,_

_The famine and_

_The overflow,_

_You turn away,_

_Welcome home._

**Chapter I: Zuko Here**

Zuko now recalled why he hated airships.

Not only was the turbulence that rattled the framework of the vessel sending shivers down his spine, but there were _no windows._ He couldn't tell where in the world they were, and that was making him anxious. And claustrophobic.

"_Calm down, Zuzu, don't be such a baby…"_

His sister's voice echoed in his head, the memory clear as day. He could remember exactly how her ten-year old face had looked as she had snarled these words his way during their first trip by airship.

Azula had always sadistically enjoyed flying. Zuko suspected that was because she felt an uncontrollable desire for power and greatness, and that gliding through the sky above the world had given her a heightened sense of her own invincibility.

Zuko, on the other hand, had always preferred to travel by boat.

When he had received the urgent plea for help from Chief Hakoda, however, he had known that he had to reach the Southern Water Tribe as quickly as possible. And that meant he had to take an airship.

He mentally cursed himself. One would think, having been Fire Lord for three years, he would be accustomed to travelling by now. He still hated it all, being cooped up in small, dank smelling quarters, eaten up by his worries about the destination ahead.

"My Lord?" Commander Ya addressed him with a ceremonial bow.

"Yes, Commander, what is your report?" Zuko replied, returning his bow.

The stocky, bearded man cleared his throat, "I have just been to see the pilot, and he expects we should be making our descent upon the Southern Tribe within the next five minutes."

"Good." Zuko nodded, relief and dread flooding through him all at once. They were almost there, and he would soon be able to obtain physical confirmation that his friends were alive and well. Hakoda had assured him of their safety in his letter, but Zuko needed visible proof to appease his anxiety. The entire journey he had been barely able to catch a moment of sleep, for his dreams had been plagued by visions of a familiar, blue-eyed waterbender and her brother being attacked and killed by fire nation rebels. For the sake of his own sanity, he needed to know that they were alright.

To keep his mind off of the sound of Katara's screams that had been echoing in his ears the whole trip, he had tried to focus on other issues. Perhaps he was reading into things, but ever since he had set foot on the ship, he had sensed something a bit off about his crew. He hadn't known any of the officers until embarking on this journey, but that wasn't what concerned him. As Fire Lord, he had many people under his command, and it was impossible to be familiar with all of them. Perhaps he was being paranoid, what with the fact that mutinous fire nation forces were currently attacking the homeland of his closest friends, but he had been noticing whispers reverberating through the narrow hallways, hushed conversations in the corners of chambers that would cease the moment he set foot within earshot.

_Zuko, get it together… You're losing it… _he told himself, reaching up to run a hand through his hair before he remembered that it was currently pulled tightly away from his face, secured by his crown.

Deciding that he might as well glean an aerial view of his destination, despite how queasy it may make him, he walked through the corridor to his right that lead towards the railing-enclosed deck that Azula had always been so fond of standing on, hands spread out on either side of her as if she ruled the universe.

Pushing open the heavy, padlocked door, he immediately felt a gust of bitingly cold air thrust against his face with so much force that he almost stumbled backwards. Blinking through the icy mists, he cautiously approached the railing, peering down at the land mass below him.

They were much closer than he had thought. He could make out the shapes of buildings atop the mass of ice, and even some moving figures. They were headed directly towards the intended landing spot, a high cliff of ice with a vast, flat summit on the western coast of the isle that Hakoda had indicated on the map he had enclosed.

Zuko's eyes narrowed as he caught sight of a cluster of red and black war tents in the southwestern corner of the ice mass, with a few large fire nation war ships floating in the water nearby. The rebels. _How dare they… _he inwardly seethed, his hands gripping the railings more tightly. He must set things right.

As they approached the landing spot with growing speed, Zuko turned to head back inside, deciding that he needed to collect his belongings before they alighted. Once inside, he strode directly to his personal quarters nodding cordially at each crewmember he passed, trying to ignore the sinking feeling he felt in his stomach each time one of them evaded eye contact with him. _They're just intimidated_, he tried to convince himself as he entered his room, shutting the door behind him.

For diplomatic missions, it was traditional for the fire lord to wear ceremonial garments. This was one convention he particularly despised, as it required him to wear heavy shoulder vestments, and annoyingly long cloak that he was forever trying to avoid tripping on, and far too many layers to move gracefully in. He wondered how his father had ever managed to fight in this bulky attire. Pulling off his everyday armor, he stood by the mirror in his tunic and pants. He pulled off his crown, allowing his long, shaggy black hair to fall down to frame his face. He stared at his reflection, the image reminding him of how he had looked when he had first joined Aang's crusade. He had thought that he had looked haggard in appearance then, but he knew he looked even gaunter now, his face narrower, several creases having already formed in his forehead due to the stress that had permeated the past three years, the beginning of his years as fire lord. _I'm only twenty_, he reminded himself. In truth, he barely felt any different than he had three years ago as he had flown to the Western Air Temple in a small war balloon, his tendrils whipping in the wind. So much had changed since then.

Sighing, he turned around, making his way towards his chest to pull out his ceremonial robes. He was halfway through unbuttoning the front of his tunic when suddenly the door to his chamer opened, and in walked Commander Ya, flanked by two other officers.

Fear coursed through Zuko. Something urgent must need to be attended to for his officers to barge in like this. "What is the matter?" He inquired, hands already reaching for the dao blades strapped to his back, "Have we been spotted by the rebels? Must we prepare for attack?"

Slowly, one of the officers turned around and locked the door

_Something's not right here_… Zuko thought.

"My apologies, _Fire Lord,_" Ya snarled in a tone that could only be described as menacing. "It is _you _that must prepare…"

"For your _death._"

* * *

For once in her life, Katara rose with the sun.

She normally hated waking up early, but the pressing matters at hand required it.

_Zuko should be arriving today_, she realized vaguely as she pulled on her fur-lined coat, emerging from her room while stifling a yawn.

And boy was she glad of it. If anyone had a chance of crushing the rebel forces that were attacking her home, it was the Fire Lord.

As she walked down the hallway of the massive, multi-room igloo that was the house she shared with her brother and father, she almost laughed at the irony of the situation, thinking back to a time when Zuko's presence in the Southern Water Tribe would certainly have been less than welcome. Now, he was their only hope.

Sokka and her father had scraped up all of the capable warriors they could muster, but after the ferocity of the previous day's attack, most of them were wounded or incapacitated. They were losing strength. Katara forced herself to hold it together, but she could barely resist bursting into tears. Her beautiful tribe, which had just been finishing up the process of rebuilding itself after the damages caused by Ozai's war, was once again under attack.

Pulling her coat closer to her body in defense against the freezing wind, she approached the tent her father had set up just before the cliff that was to be Zuko's landing spot. She knew her brother was probably already there, poring over old maps and books on battle strategy. The night before, she had practically had to drag Sokka away from the tent, insisting that he needed to rest.

"Katara! Katara!"

As if her thoughts had summoned him, her brother was running towards her from the tent, the tail of his wolf-skin cap whipping in the breeze. It was mind-boggling to her that he had so much energy, as she knew that he couldn't possibly have gotten any more sleep the previous night than she had.

He met her, grabbing onto her shoulders as if to urge her to move faster. "Look up," He said, pointing to the sky.

At first, she saw nothing. Then, squinting through the fog, she saw it. An approaching black speck through the clouds.

Zuko was coming.

* * *

Zuko leapt immediately into action, his physical instincts registering the danger before his mind could react. He unsheathed his dao blades and dodged Ya's scorching fire blast, nearly having to run up the side of the wall to evade it.

The two officers advanced upon him from opposite directions, but Zuko jammed out the blunt handles of his blades, knocking them both in the head with enough force that they both toppled simultaneously to the ground.

Ya growled angrily.

"You know, Ya," Zuko snarled, "You should learn to be more selective in choosing your henchmen."

"You're one to talk," the rebel commander replied, a mutinous glint in his eye.

He thrust his fists forward and lunged, sending more fireballs for Zuko to dodge. Nimbly avoiding getting singed, Zuko propelled himself with as much force as possible towards the heavy door, kicking it open with a blast of fire from his feet. He raced down the hallway, reminded by the fire blasts he constantly had to avoid that Ya was in hot pursuit.

Breaking out into the main galley of the ship, he stopped in his tracks, finding himself surrounded by what appeared to be the entire crew. They stared at him, weapons at the ready.

"Nowhere to run now, little boy…" came Ya's taunting voice at his rear.

Zuko hesitated for a moment, nearly overtaken by fear. But then he relinquished it, feeling a rush of adrenaline fuel him back into action. Leaping into the air with a flourish, he spun into a backflip, spreading a vortex of fire about him to repel anyone within a seven foot radius. Having caused enough mayhem to warrant a bit of disorientation, he seized the small window of time that their hesitation gave him to bolt towards the corridor he needed to reach, the one leading to the deck.

"After him!" Ya bellowed as Zuko pushed his way through clusters of soldiers, dodging incessant torrents of fire the entire way.

But they were no match for the rouge Fire Lord. This was what he was good at. _This_ he could do. Oddly enough, he welcomed his status as a loner back like an old friend. It was as if he were that banished teenage prince again, fighting his way out of Admiral Zhao's clutches. He suddenly felt more alive and free than he had in years.

Shoving his way through the door to the outer deck, he ran towards the railing with Ya and his cronies at his heels. He stopped abruptly at the railing, turning to face the rebels.

"Nowhere to go now, Fire Lord," the commander jeered, "looks like you didn't think this one through…"

Despite himself, Zuko smirked at the words, highly reminiscent of the ones his wise, tea loving uncle had said to him years ago.

"Yeah, that always seems to be my problem, doesn't it?" he shot back.

At that, he grabbed the railing of the deck and swung himself over it, kicking a parting blast of fire at the dumbstruck rebels just before flinging himself over the edge.

Ironically, as he plummeted towards the icy cliff, his primary thought was: _Well, I got my wish._

_At least now I'm off that damned airship._

* * *

Pacing about the tent, Katara tried to pay attention to the battle plans her father was explaining to the small troupe of warriors that were still in fighting condition, but she was too distracted by her rebellious thoughts.

Hakoda was counting on the battalion of soldiers Zuko would inevitably bring with him, and for good reason. At the moment, the water tribe was sorely out-numbered. Not only did they have so few warriors left, but she was the only bender among the tribe, and although her father, her brother, and Suki were certainly skilled fighters, they were no match against the firebenders, who made up about seventy-five percent of the rebel battalion. _If only Aang were here… _She thought with a pang for the umpteenth time.

In truth, she didn't know where the air nomad was, and she knew it was her fault that his whereabouts were unknown. She felt the ever-present guilt gnawing away at her insides. After Zuko's coronation, she and Aang had spent a blissful three months together, testing the waters of their new relationship. It had been a sort of honeymoon phase for them, with no one to save and no more battles to fight.

Then they had reached what could only be called a crossroads. A letter had reached her during their stay in Ba Sing Se with Zuko's Uncle Iroh, whom Aang had grown very close with. It had been written to her by her father, imploring her to return to the Southern Water Tribe. Several of the younger children had been showing signs that they might be waterbenders, and Hakoda needed her there to begin training them. Katara remembered how her heart had leapt with excitement at the thought of no longer being the only Southern waterbender, at the thought of passing her knowledge to the younger members of her tribe. In short, she had known that it was her destiny to return.

Aang had had other plans. He had been planning to travel the world, in search of more people to help in the aftermath of Ozai's war. He had explained to her that he couldn't just "settle down" in the water tribe, and that he had a duty to continue helping all of the people of the four nations. And he had been hoping that she would want to accompany him.

"_Aang, I have a duty to my tribe, and to myself!"_ she had exclaimed

"_Well, I have a duty to the world!"_ he had cried back, tears welling in his grey eyes

She remembered how helpless she had felt in that moment, still clutching the letter that had, moments before, caused her such elation.

"_What do we do now?"_ she remembered asking quietly.

"_Do what you want, Katara."_ Aang had sighed, his shoulders slumping in defeat.

The next day, he had left on Appa, and Katara could still feel the warmth of his goodbye embrace, even in the indomitable cold of her homeland. That had been two years ago and she had hardly heard from him since, aside from the occasional letter. In fact, her correspondence with Zuko had become much more frequent than with Aang. She convinced herself that the avatar was simply too busy helping everyone he needed to to write on a regular basis. _But then again, Zuko's busy as well… _a voice in the back of her mind nagged, _Aang can't even spare a moment to write to you? You're supposed to be his girlfriend!_

Shaking her head, Katara sighed and tried to force her thoughts back to the present. There was no use in clouding her mind with thoughts of a certain air nomad. Their relationship had been up in the air for two years, and she would never accomplish anything by mulling it over in her head for the millionth time.

Returning her attention to the conversation in the tent, she saw that it had quickly turned into an argument between her brother and father.

"Listen," Sokka was saying, gesturing animatedly with his hands, "If we attack today, it will be the last thing the rebel guys will expect! We can catch them with their guard down! And with Zuko's men, we should have more than enough fire power."

Hakoda sighed. "You are still young, Sokka. We cannot just rush into things like this. The Fire Lord's battalion will need time to get their bearings and then we need to talk with him about what he thinks his force is capable of achieving. I think we are going to wait for Zuko to make the call on this one. After all, these rebels are _fire _nation. Fire Lord Zuko will have the most knowledge on how to best go about defeating them."

Sokka's mouth dropped open in an almost comical nature, as he thundered back incredulously, "I've spent more of my life fighting people from the fire nation than _Sparky_ has! Besides, for all we know, he's spent the last three years in his office, signing paperwork! I bet he even has an old man belly now! _We_ should be making the call! This is _our _home!"

Katara giggled despite herself. The image of Zuko with a pot belly was just too amusing to ignore. After shooting his daughter a stern glance, Hakoda returned his attention to Sokka, sighing in defeat. "Let's just wait until The Fire Lord arrives to decide, okay?"

Sokka nodded reluctantly, and after a slight pause, he perked up. "That reminds me! He should be here any minute! Katara and I saw his ship coming a few minutes ago!"

"What?!" The chief exclaimed, "Why didn't you tell me straight away? Come on," he began, standing up and heading out the tent entrance flap, "It's only proper that we get a group together to welcome him. After all, he is the Fire Lord."

Sokka snorted, walking beside Katara to follow their father. "I still haven't come to terms with the fact that that scar-faced jerkbender is the Fire Lord, and it's been three years."

Katara grinned, knowing that, despite his sarcasm and impatience, Sokka was itching with excitement to see their friend. She couldn't blame him, for she herself felt a thrill of anticipation at Zuko's imminent arrival. Sure, they had exchanged letters, but she hadn't seen him in person for almost three years.

Suddenly, she heard a shout from up ahead. For the first time, she noticed that the air ship was almost directly above the cliff now, but it wasn't preparing to land, like it should have been. The shout had come from her father, who was pointing at a figure that was currently falling through the air from the deck of the ship. Her heart leapt with foreboding.

_Something's not right…_

"Who was that?!" she yelled, racing up to her father, who was breaking into a run himself, headed directly towards the cliff's edge, "Why isn't the airship landing?"

Hakoda gave her a sidelong glance riddled with apprehension, "There must be some sort of struggle going on up there on the ship!"

Katara's heart raced in fear

_Please, Spirits, let Zuko be okay…_

* * *

As soon as he began to fall, Zuko realized that he had made a terrible decision. He was headed directly for the cliff.

_I'm going to die…_ he thought pathetically.

_Wait, what would Azula do?_

Hit by a sudden memory, he did a backflip in midair, shooting fire out of both of his feet to propel his body perpendicular towards the cliff side.

His body made impact with the ice, and he desperately thrust one of his dao blades into the cliff's flank, holding onto its handle with both hands as he slid down, down, down, quickly at first until the sliding slowed, his blade finally sinking in deeply enough to hold his weight with stability.

He breathed a faint sigh of relief, his body trembling with the effort to keep hold of the sword.

_Thank you Azula…_

* * *

Katara sprinted as fast as she could, dread welling up in her belly as she ran towards the cliff edge, preparing herself to look down and see a crumpled body at the foot of the cliff.

Before she or her father could reach the cliff edge, however, she saw a pale hand emerge over the edge and thrust itself into the snowy ground.

She watched, flabbergasted, as another arm joined it, and the two arms worked together in a wavering effort to hoist up the rest of the figure.

Stumbling shakily to his feet, a tall young man, his trademark unruly black hair rustling in the breeze, clad in a tunic that was nearly entirely unbuttoned, revealing a star-shaped star in between his taut pectoral muscles, raised his head in an attempt at dignity, the ever-present, flame-like scar that marred his face not concealing the strange, humorous light that flickered in his glowing golden eyes.

Before anyone could speak, he took a wobbly step forward, raising one hand in a sort of wave-like gesture, and said three hauntingly familiar words, his raspy voice shaking with the effort.

"Hello, Zuko here."

And then he collapsed.

_**Hi Reader! You have reached the end of the first chapter! **_

_**This is my first Zutara fic ever, so I would LOVE feedback! stay tuned for updates!**_


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter II: Awkward Arrivals**

The first thing Zuko saw when he came to was a familiar pair of striking blue eyes.

"Katara…" he mumbled, hip lips forming her name before he could even process what was going on.

"You're awake!" she exclaimed, pressing her orb of water down even harder on his forehead, so much so that he was unable to sit up.

From his prone position, he took in his surroundings, his brain still foggy and disoriented. The ceiling appeared to be made of ice bricks, as if he were in an igloo, but, strangely enough, he didn't feel cold. Fur tapestries of some sort looked to be lining the walls, but he couldn't get a good glimpse in due to a certain waterbender, who apparently had a lot more upper body strength than he would have guessed.

"It's good to see you," he murmered shakily, hating the way his voice sounded so thick and wobbly.

Katara looked at him incredulously, shaking her head. "Unbelievable, Zuko. You fall thousands of feet from an airship, somehow manage to survive and _climb up an entire mountain, _and all you can think to say is _'It's good to see you'?_"

"What did you want me to say?" he deadpanned, feeling warmth spread in his chest the moment he saw a smile creeping slowly across the water tribe girl's face.

She opened her mouth as if to reply, but was interrupted by a loud shout

"Sparky!"

Another head popped up beside Katara's, and it belonged to none other than her brother, Sokka, who wore an over-exaggerated smile and a furry hat of some sort.

"Good, you're awake! I told dad you wouldn't be out for long! Now we can start on the battle plans!"

Suddenly Zuko remembered why he was there. The Rebels. _Oh, no…_

Adrenaline coursing through him, he immediately sat up, despite Katara's protests. His vision blurred a bit, and it looked like Sokka had two heads for a moment, but that couldn't deter him.

"Sokka, where did the airship go? Did it ever land?"

"Whoa, easy, you're still recovering." Katara urged him, gently placing her hand on his shoulder to steady him. At the cool touch of her soft skin, Zuko realized for the first time that he was shirtless. As he scanned the room, looking for his clothes, he was vaguely aware of the waterbender advancing angrily on her brother.

"Sokka, I told you not to bother Zuko with battle talk yet! He still needs to heal! Don't you have any concern for his well-being?! For once, get it through your pea-sized brain that everything does not revolve around you!"

Ignoring the insults in her reprimands, Sokka tilted his head towards Zuko, a mischievous glint in his eyes. "Good to see she hasn't changed much, eh, Sparky?"

As Katara grumbled in response and began the process of shooing the ever-boisterous young man out of the room, Zuko observed her, wondering whether she had changed. His vision had cleared up enough now that he was able to make out her figure, and she certainly appeared to be even slimmer than he remembered, her hips curving out a bit more. As she turned to face him, he noticed, despite himself, that she had gained other… ahem… assets that were inevitably bestowed upon women. He was drawn to her face again by the magnetism of those luminous eyes, and was surprised to notice that her cheekbones had become more pronounced, adding an air of elegance to her face that hadn't been present before. After a few moments, he realized that he had been staring and forced himself to avert his eyes.

_She's always been pretty… _he reminded himself, _Snap out of it!_

"Sorry about that," She said softly, returning to his bedside and placing her hands back into her bowl of water, pulling them out holding a mass of glowing liquid between them, "just lay back and relax."

Despite his anxieties, Zuko found himself obeying the command, settling down and allowing her to press the cool substance onto his forehead.

"How long was I unconscious?" he asked her, doing his best to speak without moving his facial muscles too much.

"It's been about two hours." she replied lightly, "You gave us quite the scare."

Even though she didn't ask why he had fallen, something inside Zuko prompted him to clue her in. He wanted her to be the first two know. When he had finished telling her of his crew's treachery, he was surprised by her reaction. She didn't bemoan their hopeless situation, as he was sure Sokka would do the minute he told him. She simply nodded and made sympathetic noises, moving her hands to the back of his head to gently caress his throbbing skull. It felt amazing, and despite himself, he closed his eyes in rapture, savoring the sensation.

In truth, he was greatful that she didn't complain about their dire situation. They both silently understood that they were in quite the predicament, but she chose not to focus on their troubles for a moment, allowing his mind to settle down into a state of pseudo-relaxation.

After several minutes of companionable silence, she removed her hands from his head and he sunk back down into the cushions.

"Now get some more sleep." She said, standing up, "That will help you to recover faster."

He watched as she walked towards the door, feeling a strange pang in his stomach at the prospect of her absence. Just before exiting, she looked back over her shoulder. "Oh, and Zuko?"

"Mhmm..?" he replied.

"It's good to see you, too."

* * *

Once again, Katara found herself bored to death during another battle strategy meeting. Evening had set in, and after about two more hours of sleep, Zuko had insisted that he was fine, and that he absolutely _needed_ to speak with Chief Hakoda.

Feeling a bit miffed, Katara had elected to sit down beside Suki in the tent and listen to her brother and father converse with the Fire Lord without contributing.

"So…" the kyoshi warrior said to he quietly, "It appears good old Sparky hasn't changed much since he became Fire Lord, huh? Still his usual grumpy self?"

Katara glanced over at Zuko, who was currently running a hand through his hair, staring at her brother with a look of what could only be described as exasperation as he described some most likely overzealous plan of attack. She nodded in response to Suki's remark, but found herself doubting the truth to her answer.

Zuko had changed, in a way. She couldn't quite put a finger on it, but he had. He still looked more or less the same, besides his hair being a bit longer than she remembered. Despite this, she had noticed, especially during their healing session, a certain graveness in his eyes that hadn't been present before. Zuko had always been a bit, as Suki had said, "grumpy," but the look in his eyes had been more than just angst. He had a weight on his shoulders now. He was more than a banished fire prince. He was the ruler of an entire nation.

That was hard to believe, taking in his current state of dress. He wore the same old red tunic he had worn while travelling with "team avatar" three years ago, and looked even worse for wear. The ffront was still unbuttoned, and Katara had a feeling Zuko wasn't even cognizant of it. She could clearly see the faded scar on his chest that she had tried her best to heal, but hadn't gotten enough of a chance to. She felt her breath tighten in her chest as she was brought back in time to the moment he had jumped in front of Azula's lightning strike. She could still feel the potent sense of dread that had welled up in her at seeing him fall to the ground in front of her on that night, his body trembling from the force of the bolt. It seemed so long ago, but she could feel the fear as if it had happened yesterday.

Trying to distract herself from the unhappy thoughts, Katara returned to scrutinizing her friend's appearance. His hair was messy and sticking up on the side that he had slept on, and Katara couldn't help but find it strangely adorable.

_Adorable? He's the _Fire Lord! _What is wrong with you?_ she scolded herself.

She was brought back to the reality by the sound of Zuko finally interrupting Sokka in frustration.

"We don't have the numbers to stage an attack at all, much less an attack from both flanks! Are you out of your mind?!"

Sokka shrugged, unfazed, as the Fire Lord's reaction was the kind that he was accustomed to hearing.

"Zuko is right, Sokka." Hakoda chimed in, "we simply don't have enough men yet."

"Or _women…_" Suki piped up.

Several days ago, Suki had sent a messenger hawk to Kyoshi Island to ask her fellow warriors for aid, but it was unlikely that they would arrive for several days, if they decided to send help at all.

"But we do have the Fire Lord, a waterbending master, a Kyoshi Warrior, and, let's not forget, my boomerang…" Sokka pointed out.

Katara decided that now would be a good time to get a word in edge-wise. "No matter how many lucky breaks we may have gotten in the past, Sokka, you know better than anyone that we are far from invincible."

Suddenly, Bato, Hakoda's second-in-command, ran into the tent, looking flustered. "The western side of the village is under attack!" he announced, looking frantically around at the sparse number of warriors inside the tent.

At that, the group sprang into action.

As they ran out of the tent side-by side, Sokka yelled to her "Now would be a great time for us to be invincible!"

* * *

"Hey Fire Lord! Looks like you could use a nap!"

"Guess this shows what hanging around with peasants does to you…"

"Once a banished prince, always a banished prince!"

Ignoring their taunts, Zuko pushed his way through the masses of rebels, shooting fire in response to their incendiary attempts to torment him. It felt nice, in a way, to finally take action. He was tired of sitting back in his office signing papers and sweating over treaties. Fighting was a release, a way for him to be directly involved in something.

_And Agni, am I involved, _he thought as he just barely evaded a shot of fire to the head that would have scarred his entire face. He turned to face his opponent, balking in surprise when he recognized the face. It was Admiral Tsao, who had been one of his father's major confidants. A llok of pure menace glinted in his eye, and he bore a crazed, slightly deluded countenance that reminded him of Azula's face during their final battle. He was slipping.

"Hey Admiral!" he called, slicing his hands through the air to send a jet of flames toward the rebel "You're fired!"

"Don't bother," the man snarled in response, dodging the shot, "consider this my resignation. The glor of the Fire Nation ended when you took the throne, you filthy piece of scum—"

He was interrupted by a large wave of water crashing heavily upon his shoulders, and he stumbled, facedown, to the ground. Standing behind him was Katara, her hands held out to her sides, assuming a powerful position of advantage over the firebender.

"Don't talk to my friend like that." She said with a tone of finality, and then proceeded to knock the admiral unconscious with a heavy water whip to the head.

"Thanks." Zuko nodded to her, smiling despite himself at Katara's use of the word "friend." After three years, he still couldn't believe he had been fortunate enough to earn her friendship.

She flashed him a grin in response, and opened her mouth s if to say something, but stopped short, a look of horror crossing her features.

"Zuko, look out!" she shrieked, and before he knew what was happening, she barreled him to the ground. They rolled in a tangle of limbs for several moments, until their momentum stopped and they lay together in a crumpled heap. Zuko looked to his left, and nearly gasped out loud at seeing the cause of the disturbance. Laying on the ground was a familiar, massive air bison, howling in pain, with what looked to be a fire soldier's spear protruding from his side. A familiar figure in yellow and orange, sporting a blue arrow tattooed on his forehead, walked shakily towards them from the other side of the fallen creature.

"Aang…?" he heard Katara murmur nearly incoherently. He understood her deliriousness, as the airbender seemed to be some sort of hallucination in his own shell-shocked state of mind.

"Appa was shot!" the teenage avatar shouted, "I couldn't steer him, I'm sorry!"

At hearing the familiar voice of his friend, Zuko jolted back to reality. He was suddenly very aware of the feeling of Katara's body pressed atop his, and she seemed to notice their state at the same time, as she leapt off him at lightning speed.

"Aang!" she repeated in surprise, running over to embrace the air nomad. Zuko felt a strange, inexplicable wrath boiling in his stomach at seeing his two friends wrapped in each other's arms. Shaking his head in disbelief at himself, he forced himself to believe that he was just feeling the after-effects of his collision with Katara. He could almost hear Azula's taunting voice in his ear: _You're losing it, Zu-zu…_

As Katara hurried over to Appa to inspect his wound, several more figures emerged from behind the bison's prone form.

_Oh no…_

Zuko felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. He could recognize those two figures anywhere, even beneath the heavy make-up and traditional Kyoshi warrior apparel.

"I don't _care _what the bison's aura looks like," the drone of a familiar voice was carried to Zuko's ears. "It's an animal."

The other figure was about to respond, until she looked over towards where Zuko was stumbling to the ground. "Is that…" she began, pointing at him.

Zuko suddenly felt a powerful desire to run away and never come back. Instead, he stood stock still as the two figures approached him.

"It is." The pale-faced, raven-haired girl replied as they came closer.

"Hello, Zuko." She said flatly.

"Mai."

* * *

Katara had never healed a bison before, much less while a fight was going on. She was alone with the bison now, and completely unaware of how the battle was faring. She couldn't help feeling frustrated that she was forced to stay out of the fight to tend the bison's wounds, but she was aware that Appa was seriously injured, and needed immediate treatment.

She heard a shout echo from over the ridge, and felt fear coursing through her. Who had it come from? What if it was her brother or father? Or Zuko? Or Aang?

It was definitely not Zuko, she decided. She could recognize the sound of him yelling anywhere, as her nightmares were occasionally haunted by the sound he had uttered the moment he had taken Azula's lightning bolt for her. She shuddered, remembering the terror that had pierced her as she had seen the massive shape of the bison about to crush her friend. She had reacted instinctively in knocking him to the ground, and she couldn't help but think back to the attack Azula had posed on them during their stay at the Western Air Temple, and the way that Zuko had bowled her over to save her from the effects of the explosions. They hadn't even been friends then.

She shook her head in bewilderment. _Why am I thinking about Zuko so much? _She wondered. Maybe it was because she was trying to avoid thinking about a certain air nomad who had just crashed back into her life. Literally.

The moment she had become aware of Aang's arrival, she had been in so much shock that she hadn't had the opportunity to think about what it meant. Now, however, she couldn't banish thoughts of the avatar from her head. In truth, she had been confused about the status of their relationship for a long time, since she had returned to her home, but his absence had allowed her to push her conflicted emotions to the back of her mind and focus on other things, like teaching bending to her young pupils. But now Aang was here, and she didn't know what to think. She was happy to see him, of course, but the lingering memory of their defeated goodbye nagged her, and she knew that she would never get resolution until she talked to him. But she didn't want to talk to him, to face the issue. She felt strangely like the naïve young fourteen-year old she had been when she had begun her relationship with the airbender.

However, she knew that she had changed. Her time spent back at home had changed her. She had spent time with her family, and with the members of her tribe that she had been missing throughout the entirety of her journeys with Aang. She had realized that she didn't want to be a nomad, a wanderer. She needed roots. She needed a stable home to settle herself in. At heart, she was not truly a traveler. She had journeyed with Aang out of necessity, and for a greater purpose. Now, she knew that she wanted a family. Yes, she had found something of a family in her travelling companions years ago, but that had been different. That had never been permanent. Although they were eternally bound by friendship, they all had their own separate paths to take. Zuko was the Fire Lord. Aang was the Avatar. Sokka was engaged to Suki. Toph was living with Iroh in Ba Sing Se, as far as she had heard. And she was here, in the Southern Water Tribe, teaching a future generation of waterbenders.

Her home was different than it had been when she had left with Aang years ago, and she had noticed this almost immediately upon returning. Many of the men who had fought beside her father against the fire nation were gone, leaving behind widows, children, and the elderly. Her Gran-Gran was currently living in the Northern Tribe with Pakku, and, despite their frequent correspondence, Katara missed the woman who had been essentially her closest friend for most of her life. She was lucky to have Suki to keep her company, and found great solace in the company of her brother's fiancée, but she knew that once the wedding took place, Suki would be focused on other matters, and wouldn't have as much time to spare for Katara. Even though she was surrounded by her family here, Katara had begun to feel oddly lonely and empty. That certainly didn't mean that she now wanted to jump back on Appa and travel the world with Aang, but she was starting to think that her life needed a change. There had to be an in-between option, right?

"Katara?" a familiar, raspy voice met her ears.

She jumped in surprise. "Zuko!" How had he snuck up on her like that? Seriously, the guy moved like an airbender sometimes.

He quirked an eyebrow at her in momentary bemusement, then continued, "The rebel forces have retreated. They must be regrouping."

She nodded. "So do you think it's safe to move Appa to a more secure location? I have pretty much done all that I can for now; he mostly just needs to rest."

Zuko nodded, his shoulders shrugging. Katara narrowed her eyes at the firebender. He looked exhausted. "Appa isn't the only one who needs rest," she told him reproachfully, "It was a bad idea for you to jump right into a fight after that fall. You should go back to sleep."

She almost expected the fire lord to protest, but, after a moment's hesitation, he nodded with a defeated sigh. She turned to return her attention to the bison, but Zuko addressed her again:

"Katara?"

Shifting her attention back to her friend, she noticed that he was scratching the back of his head, a gesture she had grown to acknowledge as one he performed when he was embarrassed.

"Mhm?"

"I don't know my way back to the room I was staying in…" He began sheepishly

She smiled, her heart welling up at the boyish demeaner of the grown fire lord.

"Come with me. I'll show you the way."

* * *

Mai watched the two retreating figures from atop a high bank of snow. They made quite an odd pair; the disheveled, tall young man clad in red and black and the water tribe girl in her blue and white coat.

Mai had not come to the Southern Water Tribe out of any good will towards Zuko. Admittedly, she still cared about him, but she had not even expected the fire lord to be here, let alone without any fire nation accompaniment. His presence was jarring and perplexing for her. They had ended their relationship on an awkward note, shortly after his coronation. Ty Lee had invited her to come with her to train with the Kyoshi warriors, and, for the first time in her life, Mai had been certain that she was meant to do something. Leaving with Ty Lee had felt right. Perhaps she had been secretly trying to avoid the responsibility of being in a relationship with the Fire Lord. She had been involved with enough Fire Nation politics in her lifetime; she was tired of it all. On Kyoshi Island, she had been able to focus on herself.

But where had that left Zuko? She watched the pair, which had nearly disappeared from view by now. She could just barely make out Zuko turning his head to look down at Katara, and thought she saw the fleeting ghost of a smile cross his features. Then they turned around a bend and vanished.

Mai shook her head, unable to free her mind of the image. From having grown up with Zuko crushing on her, she was very familiar with all of his telltale signs of attraction: the way his eyes softened in the corners when looking at her, the way he frequently scratched the back of his head, the nervous, twitchy way he moved his hands. Now they were directed towards someone else, and Mai didn't even think he realized it yet.

_Yes,_ she thought grimly,

_He is doomed._


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter III: Many Meetings**

Zuko's head hurt.

So much had occurred in the past thirty-six hours that he was barely able to process all of it. After his first full night's sleep in what felt like ages, he arose later than usual, hurrying through a shortened version of his morning routine of stretching and meditation. He feared another attack by the rebels, the irrational worry that he had slept through an entire battle driving him to hasten down the corridors of Hakoda's house, looking for any sign of activity.

He was just beginning to think he was lost when he nearly collided with someone. Looking up, he discovered that someone to be Aang, looking well-rested and energetic.

"Zuko!" he exclaimed, "I was just thinking of looking for you. We didn't get a chance to catch up yesterday."

Nodding, Zuko fell into step beside his friend, without a clue of where they were headed. "So I take it there hasn't been an attack this morning." he guessed.

Aang shook his head. "They must be rethinking their strategy or something. Sokka is arguing that we need to attack them as soon as possible to catch them off-guard, but I'm not so sure that's a good idea."

"Me neither." Zuko agreed. "Where is everyone?"

"Sokka, Hakoda, and Bato are having what they call 'battle-strategy breakfast,' and Katara hasn't awoken yet, as far as I know."

At the mention of the waterbender, Zuko felt an odd sort of interest peaking inside him. It was very uncharacteristic of him to ask prying personal questions, but, despite himself, he asked:

"How is it going with you two? It must be great to be together again after such a prolonged separation."

As he said it, Zuko felt an odd sort of pained feeling in his stomach, one that he chose to ignore.

"Yeah," Aang replied shortly, a hint of something like despondence in his tone, "It is."

"Well, what about you and Mai?" the airbender asked suddenly, "I was surprised to find her on Kyoshi, I had expected her to be in the Fire Nation with you."

At the mention of his ex-girlfriend, with whom he had shared a brief, awkward greeting the previous day, Zuko grew aware of a pit in his stomach. In truth, he had not thought about Mai very often after they had ended things. Honestly, he had been slightly relieved that she had chosen to leave him. If she hadn't, he probably would have proposed, and, in retrospect, he was well aware of the problems that had existed in their relationship that would have made their marriage a troubled one.

A number of his advisors, however, didn't see things the same way. As the Fire Lord, he was, by tradition, expected to marry and produce an heir as soon as possible. Several of them still pestered him about this issue from time to time, and, truthfully, he was growing sick of it. Mai's presence in the Southern Water Tribe was simply an irritating reminder of this issue for him.

"Zuko?" The avatar piped up, bringing his attention back to the conversation.

"We ended things a while ago." he replied shortly, not wishing to elaborate.

At that point, they passed under the threshold into what Zuko assumed was the dining room of the house, and he was saved from having to continue the conversation by Sokka, who immediately began bombarding him with potential strategies.

"Sokka," Hakoda chided wearily, interrupting his son's monologue on the merits of surprise attacks, "Zuko is a guest. At least give him a chance to eat something before you start grilling him."

"It's okay," Aang joked, "I doubt Zuko will have much of an appetite for sea kumquats…"

"They're sea _prunes."_ The miffed warrior corrected.

"I stopped beating that dead horse a long time ago, Sokka. You should too."

The new voice announced Katara's arrival. The waterbender strode into the room, looking fully awake. Zuko couldn't help but notice that both she and Aang were pointedly avoiding looking at each other. _What is going on between them?_ He wondered.

"Great, now that everyone is here, can we start making battle plans?" Sokka demanded, tapping his foot impatiently.

"Gee, thanks." A familiar, bored-sounding voice piped up, "It was nice to be invited to this top-secret meeting after we risked our lives yesterday, wasn't it, Ty Lee?"

The two Kyoshi warriors were entering the room, Mai looking indignant, Ty Lee energetic as usual.

"I'm sure the cute water tribe guy just forgot, Mai." The former acrobat replied, turning towards Sokka to flash him an obviously flirtatious smile.

"Good morning, you two." Suki greeted, standing up and crossing her arms, "Ty Lee, how many times do I have to ask you to stop batting your eyes at my fiancé?"

"Oopsie." Ty Lee giggled shamelessly in response.

"Anyway," Sokka piped up, steering the conversation back to strategy, "as I was saying to Dad, a surprise attack on the rebels is the best chance we have to crush their forces efficiently. If we cook up a good enough plan, we could end this fight today."

Zuko knew that there was truth in Sokka's words, but also knew that for him, this problem was bigger than simply the Southern Water Tribe. If rebels had been able to infiltrate the crew of his air ship, that meant that there was a rebel force somewhere in the fire nation capitol city, perhaps even within the palace itself. After today, his fight would certainly be far from over.

He felt a sudden longing to talk to someone, perhaps his uncle. He needed advice, on more than just how to deal with the rebels. _If he were here, he'd probably tell me to stop worrying and just focus on the present_, Zuko thought wryly, forcing himself to place his full attention on the crisis at hand.

"Ok," Sokka was saying, "Here's what we'll do…"

* * *

Katara had almost forgotten what it was like to fight firebenders.

It was satisfying, that was for sure. She relished in the way she could put out their fire with a single wave, sending pleasant quantities of steam into the air.

At the moment, she was surrounded by about seven or eight of them, whom she was busy dispatching two at a time with her water whips. Basically, her orders from Sokka had been to just take out as many as she could. Zuko and Aang were fighting back-to back several yards away from her, amidst twice as many firebenders as she was. The rebel's tactic of choice seemed to be to isolate the benders so that they were forced to fight just firebenders. The non-bending rebels were locked in fierce combat with the water tribe and kyoshi warriors just over the ridge to her left, as far as she knew.

So far, the battle seemed to be going smoothly. Although they were greatly out-numbered, Katara knew that the firebenders were no match for the avatar and the fire lord, much less herself. They were losing ground. Soon, they'd push the forces back far enough to give her an opportunity to disable the water vessel that the majority of the rebels had arrived in. Then they would be trapped.

That was part of the plan, but first, she had to ensure that Zuko and Aang didn't have too many opponents on their hands. Their very capable hands, it appeared. _Spirits,_ she thought_, I forgot how good they were…_

Indeed, despite their difference in size, Zuko and Aang fought in nearly seemless harmony. They almost seemed to be dancing. Suddenly she recognized the movements from when they had come back from meeting the dragons. What had they called the routine? _The dancing dragon, _she remembered as she saw Zuko emit a huge burst of flames from his mouth_. Spirits, that's intense…_

She realized that Zuko definitely hadn't been sitting behind a desk doing paperwork, as Sokka had so blindly surmised. He had already been a talented bender three years ago, but she could see that he had definitely improved, and was in impeccable physical condition. _Seriously, Zuko,_ she marveled to herself, nearly gaping when she caught sight of a tautly muscular forearm when one of his sleeves rode up, _how much have you been training?_

She realized that she had been distracted when she felt heat coming towards her, and ducked her head, just barely dodging a fireball that had been sent her way, courtesy of a sneering, mustached rebel. Realizing that she had let her water whips droop, she raised her arms again and sent a heavy torrent down upon him, forceful enough to knock him unconscious.

_That's what you get for gawking_, she reproached herself, _it's just Zuko, for crying out loud. _At that, she turned her full attention to the fight at hand. Now that she had regained her focus, she wasted no time in dispatching the rest of her assailants. After double checking that the avatar and fire lord had things covered on their end of the battle field, she promptly hit the water, bending her body across the shallows towards where the fire nation ship was anchored.

Mustering all of her remaining strength, she summoned a large wave, gradually gathering a greater and greater supply of water beneath her so that, when she reached the ship, she was nearly level with its first deck.

Instead of leaping on board, she drew the full force of water overhead and allowed it to crash over the ship, engulfing it entirely. However, the ship simply trembled, not budging. _I'm going to have to do better than that, _she thought, drawing up more water, raising her form higher and higher into the air.

After a few more attempts, she managed to capsize the vessel. Satisfied with her work, she headed back to shore. When she landed smoothly on the beach, she saw that Zuko and Aang had made quick work of the benders. Most of them were unconscious, and the rest had surrendered, and were cowering at Zuko's feet. Zuko, however, characteristically unlike his sister and father, seemed vaguely uncomfortable with others submitting to his will. They had been joined by Ty Lee, who was chi- blocking the benders who were still conscious.

Feeling a tap on her shoulder, Katara turned to face her brother, who bore several fresh bruises and an exuberant smile.

"We won."

* * *

Several hours after eating what Sokka had called their "victory dinner," Katara found herself wandering the halls of her father's house, wondering what to do with herself. After more than two years, she still didn't feel truly comfortable in these unfamiliar corridors. It was a different style of living than she was used to, this new, large house. She was used to sleeping on the bare ground during their travels, so any civilized dwelling place would naturally seem extravagant. However, she couldn't help feeling like she didn't belong, especially now that Zuko and Aang had shown up, reminding her of her old life as a vagabond.

"Hey, Katara."

As if her words had summoned him, Kataraturned a corner and found herself face to face with Aang himself. The air nomad was eyeing her warily, looking nervous.

"Hello, Aang," she replied stiffly, "how is it going?"

"Umm…" he began, shifting his feet and eyeing the floor, "I was just coming to find you, actually. I was hoping we could talk."

_I don't want to! _Her brain shouted like a petulantchild_. Don't make me! _Composing herself, she forced herself to face the airbender head on. "About what?"

"You know what." he replied softly.

"Oh, do you mean about how you left me because I didn't want to travel the world with you forever? Or about how you haven't answered my letters for nearly a year? Take your pick, Aang." At the biting sound of her own words, she winced, wondering whether she was being too harsh. _He's not a child anymore, _she reminded herself, _you don't have to coddle him._

"I'm sorry about that," He replied quickly, "I needed to think some things through."

When Katara responded with silence, he continued hesitantly, "I really missed you. I thought about you a lot while we were apart. I happened to be on Kyoshi Island when the warriors received Suki's hawk, and I had to come with them to make sure you were alright. I still care about you, Katara."

_Not enough, _she thought, but kept her mouth tightly shut, waiting for him to continue.

He suddenly stopped walking and turned to look her right in the eyes. She could see the torment clearly in those familiar grey eyes, and felt a pang in her stomach, the pang she usually felt when she saw that Aang was hurt. _Stop_, she told herself.

"Katara, for years I have known that I have to choose between being the avatar and being with you. The thought of making that kind of choice has been eating at me ever since. When we parted, I wasn't ready to make that choice. I'm still not ready, can't you see that?"

At that, Katara felt anger and despair rising within her like a tidal wave. She turned on her heel, ready to leave before saying something she would regret.

"Wait!" he exclaimed, grabbing her by the wrist and turning her to face him. "Don't leave! Can't you see, I love you!"

Katara felt her throat tighten, and suddenly felt as if the whole of the world were rising up around her, suffocating her.

"You don't love me, Aang." She replied sadly, forcing herself to look him in the eyes. He opened his mouth to contradict her, but she held up her hand to signal that she wasn't finished talking.

"If you loved me, you would be willing to make a choice."

At that, she turned to leave, not knowing exactly where she was headed, only knowing that she needed to be away from him, her best friend, the one person she thought she could truly love.

She now knew that what they had was not love. Love was not something you had to think through. It was something that happened without thought or premeditation, and something that gave you the courage to face the future blindly. Aang had deluded himself into believing he was in love with her. If he had really loved her, he would have been able to face an uncertain future, as long as she stood beside him.

_Spirits, where are you even conjuring all of these ideas about love from? _She asked herself,

You _have never been in love…_

She had seen it, though. She had seen it in the way Sokka had gazed at Suki in pure oblivious adoration as they had announced their engagement to the family. She knew that they still hadn't decided whether they would live in the Southern Water Tribe or on Kyoshi Island, but the one thing they knew for sure was that they would be together. And as long as that remained true, they could face all of the tribulations life would throw at them, because their love would give them the strength to face them.

Aang had never treated her as his strength. He had regarded her as his weakness, almost as his guilty pleasure. Katara knew now for sure that she didn't want that out of a relationship.

_But what did she want?_

At that moment, Katara suddenly registered her surroundings. Her feet had brought her outside, and, naturally, she was headed towards the water's edge. As she approached the ridge, however, she saw that she was not the only person who had felt the need to seek solitude.

She recognized Zuko's straight-backed posture immediately, as if she had somehow memorized the way he looked when he sat. As she drew closer, she saw that he had lit a small fire in a pile of dry parchment he had somehow managed to scrape together. She inched nearer, and, seeing that his eyes were closed, determined that he was most likely meditating. Taking a moment to observe the way that the golden glow of the fire light illuminated the planes of his face, almost softening it, she pondered her next course of action. She could just leave him be—after all, she had come out here to be alone. For some reason, however, she felt herself wanting to remain in his presence.

So she sat down in the snow, right beside him. At first, she was unsettled by the quiet, but she soon grew accustomed to the rhythm of his soft, barely audible breathing, and felt a sense of tranquility wash over her that greatly smoothed over the turmoil of her thoughts. She allowed herself to relax into this feeling, forgetting her fight with Aang, her unease at being home, everything. She could hear the rushing of the waves in the distance, could smell the comforting, smoky aroma of Zuko's fire, and could feel its warmth seeping into her skin ever so slowly.

Just as she began to feel as if she might fall into sleep, allowing the soft cushion of the night to nfold her, she was jarred alert by the sound of a soft voice.

"Katara?"

She opened her eyes to see Zuko looking down at her quizzically. "How long have you been here?" he asked, a strange look crossing his features.

"You didn't hear me walk up?" She inquired, suddenly feeling self-conscious, "I, uh, came out to practice bending, and figured I'd just wait until you were finished."

"Right then—" he replied, "I'll just get out of your way then—"

He began to stand, but she reached up and grabbed hold of his sleeve, pulling him down without a second thought.

"No. Please, stay."

He probably thought she was crazy, but she didn't care. She didn't want him to leave and take his warmth with him, leaving her alone and freezing.

He nodded, understanding seeping into his amber eyes. "You didn't really come out here to waterbend, did you?"

She shrugged.

"Why are you really out here?" he asked, not in a pushy way, his voice sounding simply full of concern.

Katara felt warmth sink into her that had more to do with Zuko showing his caring side than the swiftly dying embers before them.

"I'll tell you if you tell me why _you're_ out here." she responded with a small smile.

* * *

Peering at the water tribe girl, who looked especially lovely in the dim light of the fire, surrounded by snow that had taken on a pale blue hue due to the moon's light, Zuko just couldn't say no.

Maybe he had just needed someone to talk to, or maybe he just needed to verbalize all of his anxieties, but he suddenly found himself diving headfirst into the blue depths of Katara's eyes while telling her about his misgivings about the trials he knew he would be facing soon.

She listened in silence as he told her of his suspicions that the rebels had infiltrated the capitol, and about his doubts that he was truly fit to be fire lord, and even about how much he missed his uncle.

"I just…" he scratched his head, fumbling for the right words, "I still feel like that banished teenager, like I need Uncle's help to guide me through every decision. And I shouldn't feel like that, right? I'm the Fire Lord, for Agni's sake. It's time I started acting like it. It's no wonder the rebels feel the need to revolt… Who was I kidding, thinking I was ready for these kinds of responsibilities? I'm just fooling myself, aren't I?"

At that he sunk his head into his hands, not wanting to meet the waterbender's eyes. Suddenly he felt a soft hand touch his forearm, and at her touch, he looked up to see her staring down at him with a gentle look on her face, a look that made him think almost of his mother, in a strange way.

"Zuko," She began, stroking his arm ever so slightly as she spoke, almost as if she didn't notice herself doing it. He certainly did, however. "I think the very fact that you don't feel capable of being fire lord is the very reason that you should be, and that you will be the best leader your country has known for centuries."

He stared at her, dumbfounded, as she continued. "Your worries show how much you care for your nation. Do you think your father, or Azula, ever sat stressing out about their abilities as rulers? No, they didn't. That's because they didn't care about their nation, all they cared about was power. You are different. You are better."

He felt a warm feeling spread across his chest, and found himself smiling at Katara. She had said exactly what he had needed to hear. "I suppose that doesn't mean I'm going to be rid of these anxieties anytime soon, however." He joked wryly.

"Nope." She chuckled back, nudging him affectionately with her shoulder. "But you've got something Ozai and Azula never had."

"What's that?"

"Friends." She stated simply. "True friends. Me and Toph and Sokka and your uncle and everyone will stand by you through thick and thin, you know that, right?"

Under the soft embrace of her gentle, caring gaze, Zuko felt that he had never been so lucky. He smiled at her again, surprised by how easily outward expressions of contentment came in her presence. "Man am I glad that I decided to stop chasing you guys." He stated lightly, smirking at her.

Mirth lit up his companion's eyes. "And I'm sure glad that I didn't have to end your destiny right then and there. Permanently" she shot back, almost mocking the severity her tone had held those years ago, as she had threatened him at The Western Air Temple.

He laughed out loud, his first genuine laugh in what felt like years. He met her eyes again, and suddenly felt the urge to thank her, wanting to let her know how much this conversation had helped.

He never got the chance to, however, for suddenly the sound of a bird's call split the silence. Glancing up at the sky, he saw the shape of a bird hurtling towards them from over the water at breakneck speed. As it drew closer, he recognized what it was.

A messenger hawk.

Grabbing the fowl out of the air, Katara untied the scroll. "It's for you." she told him after reading the heading. She handed it to him and he unfurled it, reading.

A pit of dread rose in his stomach. His worst suspicions had been confirmed. It was a letter from his top advisor, General Shu, containing a warning, telling him that the rebels had begun a coup at the palace. Higher up officials had begun to disappear on the fly, and the general suspected that he was next.

_You must come home_. The last line had read.

"What is it?" Katara asked, bringing him back to the present. He wordlessly handed her the note, nodding at her to read. When she was finished she looked up at him, meeting his gaze with one of fiery determination.

"We need to get to the fire nation. Fast." She said, turning on her heel and heading back towards the house before Zuko could even react.

Oddly enough, as he watched her retreating form, his chief thought was that he had just remembered that he had never gotten to hear her reason for being out alone that night.

_**Hi readers! Sorry that this update took so long! Let me know how you like it! **_

_**By the way, if any of you are curious about the origin of this fic's title, it comes from a song by The Killers that I think reflects Zuko and Katara very well. **_

_**here is a link if you are interested: watch?v=C3n2xtNmCe0** _


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter IV: Palace Escapades**

"Yep, it really feels like the old days now, huh?" Sokka crowed cheerfully, the wind causing his ponytail to flap in his face.

"Not really." Mai snapped back tersely, "Unless 'the old days' is code for feeling queasy…"

Despite the familiarity of flying aboard Appa, Katara had to say that this didn't feel like old times at all. For starters, Mai and Ty Lee, who had long been their enemies, were riding along this time. And on top of that, she and Aang hadn't spoken a word to each other all morning.

She glanced up towards the bison's head, where he sat steering. The avatar's back was straight and rigid, and he seemed to be focused on the journey at hand.

Pushing her hurt feelings aside for the time being, she looked over at Zuko. The firebender sat comfortably in Appa's saddle, running his eyes across a large sheet of parchment. Curious, she scooted closer to him.

"What's that you've got there?"

He regarded her for a moment and then handed the parchment to her. "It's a map of the fire palace."

For a moment she looked at him in confusion, until he explained. "I'm trying to decide which chambers the rebels are most likely to be keeping my officials prisoner in."

"What makes you so sure they're being kept in the palace?"

He shrugged. "It's the most secure place in the fire nation. Plus, I don't know if you've noticed, but these rebels seem to be sporting some delusions of grandeur."

She nodded. "So… What is your plan for when we arrive?"

"Due to our small number, sneaking in is probably the best strategy." He replied.

"So the fire lord will be sneaking into his own palace?" she asked teasingly.

"Looks like it." He grinned back.

Katara smiled and settled her back against the rim of the saddle, not abandoning her seat beside Zuko. The fire lord seemed much more at ease than he had been two hours ago, before their journey had begun. He had paced around her father's house, insisting that it was unnecessary that his friends come to the fire nation with him, that it was 'his problem' and he didn't want them all 'risking their lives.' In the end, he had been overruled, and she, Sokka, Aang, Suki, Mai, and Ty Lee had boarded Appa and set off with him to help in whatever way they could with squelching the rebels. Her father and his men had stayed behind to deal with rebuilding after the rebel's attack and to keep an eye on the captured rebels. Katara had left him and her bending students with the promise that she would return soon.

Strangely enough, it felt good to be travelling again, to feel a world of possibilities at her fingertips. There were advantages and disadvantages to both the nomadic and the homebound lifestyle, she realized. So where was the in-between option?

Beside her, Zuko shifted his weight. Katara hadn't realized that she was sitting so close to him before. She didn't move away, however, perhaps because she was so tired. After the hawk had come the previous night, she had stayed up conversing with everyone about their next course of action, and hadn't gotten a chance to rest.

In that moment, the smooth motion of Appa's flying and the dull hum of the winds, and most significantly, the feel of the warm body beside her, almost supporting her, lulled her slowly to sleep, before she was even able to register her position.

* * *

Zuko felt his face burning despite the biting cold of the wind whipping against him. Still holding the map, Katara had drifted to sleep, and her head had drooped down to rest on his chest. Now, almost the entire group was staring at them in bewilderment, but he couldn't move for fear of waking her.

When Sokka eyed him warily, he shrugged his shoulders and gave him a what-can-you-do look. Her brother seemed to understand, or, perhaps was too tired himself to make a fuss.

His embarrassment only increased when he saw Ty Lee nudge Mai, who gave him a knowing smirk. He knew Katara would surely share his embarrassment if she woke up in such a position, but he didn't have it in him to wake her. Her normally animated face was peaceful, and she appeared softer, more at ease without her guard up. With her head so close to his, he was able to catch the scent of her hair, which was surprisingly flowery.

When she unconsciously raised her hand to rest gently on his chest, he stiffened at first, but then relaxed beneath her soft touch. Looking around, he saw that everyone except Aang, who was still driving, had begun to doze. Despite himself, he felt his own eyelids drooping as he began to memorize the rise and fall of Katara's chest against his ribcage and allow the rhythm to calm his senses.

When he eventually woke up, Katara had moved to the opposite side of Appa to converse with Suki, and wasn't paying any attention to him. Nevertheless, he was vaguely aware that his dream had somehow involved the waterbender, even if he couldn't remember the specifics of it.

He shook his head to clear it and regain focus. _What am I doing? _Dreaming _about her? It must be all of the strange water tribe food getting to me…_

But he knew deep within him that that wasn't true at all as he watched Katara, unable to focus on anything besides the way that her long, silky hair flew in the wind like a ship's flag. _You have obligations to fulfill, _He scolded himself, _this is no time to be harboring wild fantasies about the avatar's girl…_

Come to think of it, however, he couldn't recall seeing the two exchange a single word with one another all day. Perhaps he was imagining it, but they seemed to be avoiding each other. And judging by the way Aang had responded to his inquiries the previous day, perhaps Zuko's suspicions weren't entirely unfounded. He felt a strange, wild sort of glee rise in his chest, which he quickly repressed, silently reprimanding himself for his foolish thoughts.

"So, have you been thinking about our plan of action when we arrive at the capitol?"

Sokka's voice jerked him violently out of his reverie. Recovering quickly, he listened patiently to his friend's over-complicated ideas, which all seemed to involve him sporting a fake beard, for some odd reason.

"I'm not budging on the facial hair," he said defensively when Zuko inquired about it "It's an essential part of my fire nation identity."

"It won't matter whether we look fire nation though, will it?" Mai pointed out, "At this point, if the palace is over-run by rebels, we will stick out like a sore thumb anyway."

"Well, if all goes as planned, we'll stay out of sight for as long as possible," Zuko pointed out, "I've been considering places in the palace that we could hide, secret chambers that the rebels couldn't possibly have knowledge of."

"I am a fan of secret chambers." Sokka added, "But I'm still wearing the beard, no matter what."

"Good. I'm glad we've settled that." Katara said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

"After we've found a hiding place, what do we do then?" Ty Lee asked.

Zuko hesitated for a moment, at a loss. "I… haven't thought that far ahead yet…"

"You really have a problem with thinking things through, don't you?" Mai stated, regarding him with her trademark bored expression.

"Hey, Sokka's the plan guy. Ask him." Zuko responded defensively, holding up his hands in defeat.

"That's quite _lordly _of you, isn't it, _Your_ _Highness?"_ Katara teased quietly, a mischievous glint in her eyes.

"Easy for you to say, _peasant._" He retorted, grinning. The strange warm feeling returned to his chest as the waterbender rolled her eyes and punched his shoulder playfully.

Their conversation was interrupted by the sound of a throat clearing. Everyone looked up to see that Aang had turned around, and was regarding them through narrowed eyes. Zuko ducked his head, pointedly avoiding looking at Katara again under the air nomad's scrutiny.

"Hey Aang." He said quickly. "We were just talking strategy. If you want to rest, I can steer Appa now."

"Yeah, thanks Zuko." He replied wearily, rubbing his eyes. Zuko got up to maneuver his way to the bison's head. Perhaps he imagined it, but as he passed Aang, it seemed as if his friend was avoiding meeting his gaze.

As he settled down into his new position, Zuko looked down at the wide expanse of the ocean, suddenly wondering if its waters had the power to wash away his problems.

* * *

The last time Katara had been to the fire palace, she and Zuko had simply flown right in. There had been no need for secrecy, as their purpose had been to confront Azula anyway.

One thing was the same, however. Zuko was by her side. She was reminded of their quest to find Yan Ra, her mother's killer, as they wove in and out of corridors in the thick of the night. Tonight, however, they were infiltrating the fire palace, the most secure building in the world, most likely.

As they crept through the halls, occasionally taking detours into closets and side rooms when their ears picked up the sounds of someone approaching, it certainly didn't feel like they were inside Zuko's home. She couldn't ignore the irony of it all, as she watched the fire lord, all dressed in black like a common bandit, move stealthily through the halls, pressed as closely to the wall as humanly possible. She found herself wondering when the last time Zuko had snuck in somewhere had been. He had certainly retained his uncanny propensity for treading almost silently, and for sensing the smallest commotions and disturbances almost instantly.

They were headed for a secret chamber that Zuko claimed lay behind the fire lord's bedroom. He had, most curiously, called it that himself, instead of identifying it as simply his room. Shaking all thoughts of Zuko's perplexities out of her mind, she tried to focus on their plan. They had decided to split into groups of two or three and to enter the palace from different wings. In the end, they would all converge at the same secret chamber, but all three groups were taking different routes, and were due to arrive at different moments. Sokka and Aang were also a group, and the three Kyoshi warriors would be sneaking in together.

She suddenly felt Zuko's arm wrapping around her midsection, and struggled to keep her composure as he pulled her back against him, sliding both of their figures covertly behind a statue that stood in a nearby alcove just in time as two figures rounded the corner.

Fighting to still her breathing and relax her senses was a difficult task with her body pressed so closely against a certain firebender's. She could feel his own chest muscles tightening as he pulled her into him, deeper into the shadows.

The two soldiers were conversing quietly as they passed, and Katara could make out what they were saying.

"—doesn't mean he'll show up here anytime soon. At this point, the fire lord won't know who to trust. You really think he'd just storm his own palace?"

"I think you're over-estimating the fire lord's intelligence. Remember, this is Zuko we're talking about, not his sister. It's only a matter of time before he shows his scarred, ugly face."

She couldn't catch any more of their words as they receded farther down the corridor, out of earshot. She felt the absence of Zuko's arm around her as quickly as it had appeared, and suddenly he was motioning for her to follow him again.

Before she could even think, they were racing through another hallway, up a small flight of stairs, and through a grand pair of double doors, emblazoned with the fire nation's symbol.

As they crossed the threshold, Katara had to blink several times to get her bearings. The room they now stood in was the most luxurious, extravagant room she had ever set foot in. The walls were covered with artwork, mostly gilded portraits of what looked to be past fire lords. There was a lounge area, complete with an armoire, several couches, and a gigantic fireplace. In the center of the room stood the most gargantuan bed she had ever laid eyes on, covered in red velvet linens. Above the headboard a large map of all of the nations was mounted in a heavy golden frame.

She turned to Zuko incredulously. "You sleep _here_?"

His eyes darkened. "No."

"Well then who—"

"This was my father's room." He answered quietly.

Even in the dark, she could see the turmoil of emotions swimming in his eyes.

"Zuko…" she began, "this is the first time you've been in here since becoming fire lord, isn't it? That's why everything has remained unchanged."

He nodded. "I… couldn't… wasn't ready…"

Feeling a strong urge to embrace her friend, she instead settled for resting a comforting hand on his shoulder. Not knowing what else to say, she eyed him with determination and said, "Okay, let's see this secret room you've been talking about."

He nodded, seeming to remember the task at hand. Walking over to the bed, he climbed up on it, running his hands over the wall behind it. "You search over there." He told her, pointing to the other end of the room.

She began feeling around for any grooves or niches, anything that would indicate the presence of a door, when she heard Zuko whisper her name. She turned around to see that he was still kneeling on the giant bed, but he had lifted the map off of the wall, and in its place was what looked to be the opening to a passageway of some sort. She hurried to his side, climbing onto the bed next to him.

"I'll go first, you follow when I give the okay, got it?" She nodded in acquiescence, and watched as he hauled himself up on his forearms and disappeared into the passage. After a moment, he poked his head out and nodded to her. "All clear. Take my hand."

She reached for him tentatively, and he grasped her hand firmly, and before she had time to process the way her hand felt enclosed in his, she was through the passage and inside the dark room. Reaching through the hole, she and Zuko picked up the map and mounted it back on the wall, then turned around at last to survey their surroundings. In contrast to the one they had just been standing in, this room was quite plain and dreary, with no furniture except for a table in the very center. It was barely roomy enough to fit their whole group.

"Home sweet home." She sighed, dropping her knapsack on the table. Turning towards her companion, she saw that he bore a strange expression on his face, and wondered if he was still unnerved from being in his father's old chamber.

"What is it, Zuko?"

"Uh…" he scratched his head, and she swore she could make out a blush, even in the dim light. "Sorry for manhandling you back there, it was…"

She fought the urge to laugh out loud and grinned at him. "Totally fine. I should have been paying more attention, and then maybe you wouldn't have had to."

He shrugged, still looking somewhat abashed. She nearly laughed again. How was it that he could be so smooth at times, but other times have all of the tact of a preteen boy?

"What did you say about 'manhandling?'" A familiar voice cut through the darkness from behind them, as Sokka emerged from the shadows, followed closely by Aang. Now Katara felt heat rising in her own cheeks as she searched the recesses of her mind for an explanation.

This time, however, Zuko came to the rescue with a quick excuse. "I, uh, gave her a boost into the room and accidentally grabbed at some… unmentionable areas, if you know what I mean…won't happen again."

Much to her humiliation, her brother nodded in understanding. "Girls, am I right? So inconvenient."

"I'm going to pretend that sentence didn't just come from my fiancé's mouth." Suki's voice echoed from the end of the room as she, Mai, and Ty Lee emerged from the passageway.

In an abrupt attempt to change the subject, Sokka looked around, commenting, "Some secret room, huh? I was expecting it to be… I don't know… bigger?"

"Well, it's the best we've got for now." Zuko sighed, lowering his body to the ground. "So… Sleep first or plan first?"

Sokka grinned. "Niether. Food first. Always."

* * *

Over meager provisions, the group smoothed out their strategy. The plan was to infiltrate various areas of the palace to learn rebel secrets. Sokka would go under cover as a palace guard, while Katara and the kyoshi warriors would disguise themselves as servants and maids.

Despite their protests, Sokka insisted that Aang and Zuko were too conspicuously recognizable to go under cover. They would have to stay hidden.

"I _hate_ this." Zuko muttered, pacing the room the next morning, which suddenly seemed much bigger when it was occupied by only himself and the air nomad.

"Welcome to my life." Aang replied in a matter-of-fact way, settling down to meditate.

"I can't just sit around while they risk their lives." He grumbled, plopping down beside his friend in defeat. "We have to do _something."_

"Maybe we could 'talk about our place in the universe.'" Aang joked back, eyeing Zuko with one eye open.

Zuko sighed, continuing his rant. "I wish we could just storn in and crush the rebels."

"There are too many of them; you said so yourself." His friend replied calmly, "Going undercover is our best bet for now."

They settled into a few minutes of silence, but Zuko couldn't quiet the incessant motions of his mind. "Aang, can I ask you a question?"

The avatar nodded.

"How did you deal with it all of those years? How did you cope with the idea that people you cared about risked their lives every day for your cause?"

Aang was silent for a moment, and Zuko wondered if he had crossed a line. He was just opening his mouth to fumble through an apology when the air nomad turned to meet his eyes and responded,

"I had to come to the realization that it wasn't all about me. They all have their own personal reasons for fighting, and without those reasons, they would be here. What's wrong, Zuko? What has prompted these feelings?"

"It's just…" he clawed at his hair, reacting to the chaotic nature of his emotions. "It's my fault we even have to be here. The rebels rose to power under my nose. If I hadn't been so negligent, maybe I could have stopped this before it even began."

"Zuko, sooner or later you're going to have to accept that some things are out of your control. You of all people know that you can't change the past. You can only look forward, and direct your actions accordingly." Aang patted him on the shoulder. "They'll be alright. And we'll win this fight, I promise."

Zuko looked into his friend's eyes and saw the wisdom of hundreds of years reflected back at him. He wondered for a moment if this was what Roku, his descendent, had been like.

"That's an odd look." Aang remarked.

"Oh, I was just thinking about how you're technically my great-grandfather." Zuko shrugged, grinning down at his friend.

"And don't you forget it." Aang shot back, smiling.

Zuko felt himself smiling despite himself. He had forgotten how much he had missed this, just being with his friends. For years he had been caught up in all of his responsibilities as fire lord, and he hadn't really gotten a chance to lighten up at all. He realized then that, although he wanted to defeat the rebels, he also didn't want to have to return to his throne and subsequent separation from his friends. Katara had been right—they had always been there to support him, but he hadn't always been aware of that.

"Hey, Aang?"

"Mmhm?"

"When this is all over, we should all take a relaxing trip to Ember Island. We can stay at my family's house, and maybe even go see that awful play again. It'll be just like old times."

"I'd like that." Aang agreed. "But can we not go see that play again? I _hate_ that play." His face darkened suddenly, as if he was just now remembering some unpleasant memory.

Zuko's face begn to heat up again, as he suddenly recalled why Aang hadn't liked that play.

The two spent the rest of the day meditating, or, in both of their cases, trying in vain to banish thoughts of a certain waterbender from their minds.

* * *

Katara hated the fire palace maidservant uniform. It was itchy, and too much material to make it convenient. She wondered how the full time maids moved so quickly and accomplished their tasks so efficiently in them.

Ten minutes felt like hours as she slowly went through the motions, trying not to get lost in the endless twists and turns of the palace, folding towels and linens and taking them from the laundry room to countless chambers that all seemed to be unoccupied. She honestly had no idea what she was doing, but she had to act like this wasn't her first day, so she just took wild guesses, entering random rooms, keeping a look out for rebels as she worked. Suki, Mai, and Ty Lee had taken jobs in the kitchen, and Sokka was posing as a guard. She sincerely hoped that none of them had run into any trouble.

She hadn't learned too much about the rebels, only that the maids were carrying on their tasks as usual in the fire lord's absence. She heard from their whispers that a greater number of soldiers was residing in the palace than was usual, but most of the servants seemed relatively oblivious. The rebels were apparently doing a good job keeping their operation under wraps.

Hoping to find some way to pass the time, she entered a hallway that she hadn't explored yet. It was a relatively short walk, and she quickly reached the room at its very end. Deciding that she could at least change the linens in the room, she entered.

Immediately, she sensed that there was something different about this room. It lacked the flamboyant decadence of the other chambers. It was much smaller, with few adornments on the wall. The only furniture was an unmade bed and a desk with a large, overstuffed bookcase beside it. After a few seconds of standing inside it, something inside her knew.

This was Zuko's room.

She knew this for sure the moment she approached the desk. On it sat two small framed portraits, one that was unmistakably of his Uncle Iroh, another of a beautiful woman whom she didn't recognize, but who looked hauntingly familiar nonetheless. This could only be his mother. She bore a remarkable resemblance to her son, with her angular face, raven hair, and sharp but kind eyes.

Katara sat down at the desk, trying to imagine what it must feel like for Zuko, signing papaerwork here, alone and in silence. Maybe when he got lonely, he looked at the two portraits. The desk was positioned with a clear view out of a large window, which looked out towards a garden of some sort. She thought she saw a small pond with a bench beside it in the midst of the flower-bushes. It was a nice view, she could understand why Zuko had chosen this room.

Struck by a sudden idea, she wondered whether she might be able to find something that could be helpful to them in here. She began to scan the titles on the bookshelf. There were many on geography and battle strategy, naturally, but she saw a surprising amount of works that looked to be fiction and mythology, and tried to imagine Zuko curled up with a book in his free time. The thought brought a sudden feeling of warmth into her chest. As she reached the end of the third shelf down, she spied a parcel that looked to be a bunch of letters tied neatly together. She knew that she shouldn't snoop, but she couldn't help herself. _Don't open them!_ She scolded herself, trying to resist, but failing. Sighing, she untied the ribbon that held the envelopes together and opened the one on the top of the pile. The minute she began to read, she almost dropped the bundle in shock.

This was her handwriting.

She frantically looked through all of the letters.

The bundle contained all of the letters she had sent to him in the past three years. She couldn't believe he had saved them all, and kept them together so neatly, organized by the date they had been sent. She also hadn't realized before that she had sent so many. She had gotten into the habit of updating him more and more after she had begun living in the Southern Water Tribe, and she supposed that she hadn't really given a thought to the amount of letters she had sent him. His replies were in a drawer in her room at home, but she had never counted them or organized them. She felt a sudden urge to read them all over again, beside all of her letters to him. At the thought of Zuko neatly organizing all of her correspondence, she smiled shyly to herself, unable to contain the warmth that was blooming in her chest. Just as she began to read over her most recent letter to him, she was interrupted by a shout.

"You there!"

She cursed herself for her stupidity. She had left the door ajar. Spinning around quickly, she saw a man's form framed in the doorway, that of one of the palace guards.

"What are you doing in the fire lord's chamber, servant?" he demanded, stepping into the room.

"Um… I was just about to change his bedding." She answered quickly, moving towards the bed.

"Don't move!" the guard commanded. He stepped closer to her, eyeing her suspiciously. "Even the most inept maidservant knows that the fire lord prefers to tend to his own laundry. This chamber is strictly off limits. What are you doing, snooping around?"

"No! Honestly, I just forgot! I don't want any trouble, I'll just be going now…"

As she moved to brush past him, he suddenly grabbed hold of her upper arm, wrenching her back into his line of vision. "Not so fast…"

He scrutinized her for a moment. "You look too pretty to be an average maidservant. And you've tied your apron on inside-out."

"It's my first day on the job." She explained.

"Oh I'm sure it is." He said, smiling wickedly.

"You're coming with me, missy."

_**Another update! I love reading your reviews, so please let me know how you feel about the direction this story is headed in.**_

_**P.S. I'm sorry about the cliffhanger, but stay tuned, and you'll find out soon what happens to Katara...**_


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter V: Second Time Cellmates**

"Seriously, though, Zuko. Have you ever thought about placing your palace guards under stricter supervision?"

Zuko stared blankly at Sokka, who was struggling with taking off his official palace guard uniform.

"You do realize that we aren't here to reform my security system?" he deadpanned.

"I'm just saying! Some of them take far too many 'trips to the latrine' if you know what I mean…"

"Classic Sokka," Aang chimed in, "Your first day on the job, and you're already suggesting improvements."

"Hey, don't look at me," Sokka held up his hands defensively, "If you ask me, this whole 'rebel takeover' thing could have been prevented by better palace security…"

His friend certainly had a point, but that was the least of Zuko's worries at the moment. Katara still hadn't returned to the secret room, and he knew that maidservants' day shifts usually ended at 5:00. It was 6:30, and everyone had returned except for her. He was starting to crawl with agitation at having to remain hidden. _Where is she? _He shuddered, possibilities running rampant through his mind. _What if the rebels have captured her? What if they're torturing her?_

Sokka had assured him several times that Katara was probably fine. "This is Katara we're talking about, remember? She's probably late because she's helping deliver a baby, or feed a family in need, or something Katara-ish like that."

Yet Zuko couldn't help the feeling of foreboding that was rising in his chest at her absence. _Something's not right…_

Another hour passed, and even Sokka began to start worrying.

"Alright, we have to do something!" he exclaimed, rubbing at his fake beard in consternation.

"We'll go look for her," Suki offered, motioning between she, Mai, and Ty Lee "We're trained in stealth; we won't be caught."

"But if you _are_ caught, how are you going to explain why you're not in the kitchen where you belong?"Sokka demanded, ducking his head when Suki glared his way, "Sorry. Poor choice of words."

"If Katara's been captured, maintaining our cover is the least of our worries!" Zuko exclaimed, his frustration getting the best of him.

"But if she hasn't, we'll be risking blowing it for a false alarm!" Sokka shot back, "None of you are leaving. I'm going to look for her. She's _my_ sister."

"So you're expecting the rest of us to just stay back and do nothing?" Aang asked incredulously.

"Not a chance in hell." Zuko stated bluntly, his mind already whirring with ideas on where to search. "I'm going to search too. You can't stop any of us."

Looking behind him, he saw the others nodding their assent.

Sokka sighed in defeat. "Fine. We'll split up."

* * *

Zuko scaled the corridor that flanked the main courtyard, inching slowly towards the corner to see if the coast was clear. It was.

Fueled by adrenaline, he had already covered a lot of ground. He had searched almost the entire western wing of the palace, and was steadily moving towards the south side of the property. Sokka and Aang were covering the northern corridors, while the Kyoshi warriors had raced off towards the eastern wing.

His anxiety was steadily increasing. Katara was nowhere to be found, and there was no trace of the rebels either. His sense of foreboding was only growing with each passing minute. _Where are they keeping her?_

He now had no doubt that she had been captured. Some instinct deep within him just _knew. _He couldn't explain it. He just did.

Lost in his thoughts, he barely had time to slip out of sight as a lone guard turned the corner. When the figure passed unaware, he let out a breath of relief. _I wish Toph was here_, he thought sudden_ly, _jealous of her keen ability to sense when others were approaching.

Struck by a sudden thought, he realized what he had been overlooking, and suddenly he knew where the rebels were hiding.

_Why didn't I see it before?_ He wondered as he rushed back through the western hallways. _Of course they would use the secret bunker!_

He raced through the hallways, his heart beating nearly too fast for him to keep up. His only thought was: _I must find her. I have to find her._ He knew the way to the passage that led to the bunker by heart, even though he hadn't entered the bunker for more than three years. He remembered how liberating it had felt to leave it all those years ago, still charged from redirecting his father's lightning, armed with the knowledge that his mother was alive and the determination to join the avatar and end this war. Now he entered the small room that flanked the throne room, barely the size of a closet, which contained the trapdoor leading down to the bunker.

Taking a deep breath, he opened the trapdoor and lowered himself down, making his descent upon the metal ladder as quickly as possible. He proceeded down the familiar passageway, wracking his brain for thoughts on which chamber they might be keeping her in. _The throne room would be too obvious… perhaps one of the back bedrooms? Or the servants' quarters?_

Bypassing the grandiose rooms he was most familiar with, he headed down a long corridor towards the back rooms, on edge as he listened for the sounds of approaching feet. It was eerily quiet.

After checking the back rooms and seeing no sign of the waterbender, or any of the rebels, for that matter, he turned to circle back the way he had come. As he was hurrying down the hall, he nearly passed up a small, one person door that lay on the side of the hallway that held no doors, because it shared a wall with the throne room. He backtracked and crept up to the door, pushing it open slightly to peek inside.

A lot was going on in the bunker throne room, but the first thing he noticed was a blue-clad figure slumped against a pillar. _Katara._

Itching to run to her, to check that she was alright, he surveyed the rest of the room. Soldiers, and even some palace guards, were milling about. Apparently he had found the center of operation for the rebels.

His attention was drawn back to Katara as a burly soldier approached her and jostled her shoulders roughly.

"Wake up, Princess. We are in need of entertainment."

Dread welling up in his stomach, Zuko watched helplessly as she was dragged by her bound hands into the center of the room. _I have to do something! But what?_

He never did get a chance to figure out, because, at that moment, the whole world went dark.

* * *

The world seemed a bit hazy to Katara as she allowed herself to be pulled into the center of the room. She had been in varying states of consciousness during her time in captivity. Her last clear memory was of trying to fight off the rebels who had come for her. She remembered looking around for a water source, cursing herself for leaving behind her water skins. She had used the water from a vase of panda lilies, but it hadn't been enough. She had been overpowered.

Now she stood in an unfamiliar room, surrounded by jeering men. The rebels. Although she had little strength left, she tried as hard as she could to stand upright and face them with strength. She knew that, without water, she was no match for all of them, but she could at least go down with dignity.

Suddenly, a dull thud sounded from the back of the room, followed by a shout of alarm. Suddenly all of the rebels were watching a man walk in from the back door, dragging an unconscious figure behind him. Katara's vision was still blurry, but she would recognize him anywhere. Zuko.

"Well, Look at that!" The burly rebel who had ahold of her arm exclaimed gleefully, "It's the catch of the day! The _Fire Lord_."

"Well, Well, Well." Another rebel crooned, turning towards her, "You must be more important than we had realized, if the fire lord himself came looking for you."

"Looks like we've got our leverage…" the burly rebel proclaimed, smiling maliciously. The crowed of rebels erupted into cheers. Katara had only one thought:

_Oh no…_

Eventually the rebels seemed to grow tired of leering at their captives, and Katara was delivered back into the corner of the room with a still-unconscious Zuko. A soldier came over and bound his hands with a thick chain, and as he was jostled by the rebel, he began to stir. Once the rebel left, she inched closer to inspect her friend, a surge of guilt coming upon her. _This is all my fault…_

Zuko seemed to be entering in and out of consciousness. He shifted a bit, his legs trembling, eyebrows knitting and unknitting themselves as he mumbled incoherently. Suddenly she heard one recognizable word:

"_Katara…"_

Bewildered, she stared frantically down at him, feeling helpless as he began to shudder and convulse, beads of sweat forming on his forehead. _"Katara…"_

"I'm here, Zuko, I'm here." She murmured back, tears pricking at her eyelids as she watched him struggle, her heart pounding.

At the sound of her voice, he stilled, and, after a moment of silence, slowly opened his eyes. Katara was so grateful to see those familiar golden orbs that she almost tried to embrace him, before remembering that her hands were tied.

"Katara! You're alright?" He sat bolt upright almost immediately, running his eyes over her as if to inspect her for any sign of injury.

"Yes." She replied, smiling despite their situation. "Lie back and take it easy. You took a pretty hard hit, by the sound of it."

"I should have sensed it coming." He grumbled, looking disappointed in himself.

"Don't blame yourself, Zuko." She insisted. "I'm the reason we're in this mess. Now our cover is as good as blown."

"I just hope the others are safe." He sighed, leaning back against the pillar.

Struck by a sudden thought, she giggled despite herself.

"What?" he inquired, raising an eyebrow quizzically.

"I just realized that this is the second time we've been held prisoner together." Katara pointed out ruefully. "Seems like it's always us two, huh?"

Zuko chuckled softly in response. A moment of silence passed between them, and when he finally broke the silence, she was surprised by what he said.

"I'm really glad that this time is different than last time, though."

She turned to face him, startled by the sincerity she discovered in his eyes. Not knowing how to reply, she nudged him affectionately.

"Don't get all sentimental on me now, Sparky. We still have a chance to get out of this mess."

For a fleeting moment, she thought she saw an oddly troubled look cross the firebender's features, but it was so subtle that she convinced herself that she had imagined it.

"Alright," he nodded, "what do you think we should do?"

"Hey, don't ask me!" she protested. "You've spent much more time in this bunker than I have."

Zuko paused for a second, his brows crunching together like they always did when he was in deep thought. He hesitantly opened his mouth to say something, but whatever it was, Katara never got to hear it.

"Alright, you two, playtime's over," snarled a harsh voice, and she felt herself suddenly being yanked to her feet and dragged yet again towards the center of the room. She looked frantically back towards Zuko, who was scrambling to his feet to follow her.

"What are you doing?" he shouted angrily at the rebel who was currently manhandling her. She was currently trying in vain for the thousandth time to wriggle her hands out of the chains, but they were just too tight. She wasn't about to give up without a fight, though. She twisted her fingers towards the rough hands that had ahold of her wrists, proceeding to dig her nails into the flesh of his hands as hard as possible. The rebel yowled in pain, but did not loosen his grip.

Soon they stopped in the middle of a ring of rebels who were watching with great interest and anticipation. A sinking feeling began to settle in her stomach. They all seemed to know what was going on, which meant that they had planned something. And she had a strong suspicion that that something was not going to be pleasant.

She shared a glance with Zuko and could see that he shared her terror. _At least he's here…_ she thought, feeling a small sense of comfort at that.

"Alright, _fire lord,"_ the rebel holding her announced mockingly. "We're about to find out a little something about your _prioritie_s."

"Let her go." Zuko said through gritted teeth. "She has nothing to do with this."

"Oh, but she does, doesn't she? She has everything to do with this little predicament you've landed yourself in. And she is going to help us with a little test to see if you really are fit to rule this great nation."

"You're deranged." Zuko's voice wavered slightly as he replied, and Katara thought she could see the sense of desperation growing all the more intense in his eyes. "Let her go."

"Oh, I think it is you, who is deranged. You've been deranged ever since you took the throne. How could you have possibly thought you were capable of ruling this nation, when you're nothing but a banished traitor who has done nothing but taint his bloodline with shame. You may have royal blood, fire lord, but that does not mean you are worthy of it."

"Well, who do you suggest should rule?" Zuko shot back mockingly, "Azula? Good luck with that."

Suddenly a cold, eerily familiar voice echoed off the walls of the room from somewhere behind Katara.

"Well, well, well, Zuzu. Thank you for the nomination. I've always known I could count on you to have my back."

* * *

"Azula!" Zuko thought he heard Katara gasp. He couldn't be sure, however, for he was still recovering from the shock of seeing his sister, whom he had thought to be safely guarded in the palace prison, emerge from the shadows, wearing full battle armor and a sickening smile.

The smile suddenly vanished as she regarded Katara. "How dare you speak my name, you filthy peasant," she spat venomously, and Zuko thought he could see a slight hint of that familiar insanity cloud her eyes for a brief moment as she beheld the woman who had bested her three years ago.

"Don't speak to her like that!" he shouted, anger boiling up inside him.

She suddenly approached her brother, the familiar cold look returning to her eyes. "Oh, dear brother, in case you haven't noticed, you're in no place to be making demands. I would have hoped that three years of being the fire lord would have sharpened your wits, but, I'm sadly disappointed."

"Believe me, the feeling is mutual." He snarled back through gritted teeth. "I should have known you were behind this. How could I have been so blind to have hoped that you had actually learned from last time?"

"Because you didn't learn either." She replied smoothly. "You showed me mercy, again. That was foolish, Zuzu, even for you."

"Well, you can rest assured that I won't make that mistake ever again." Zuko growled, stepping forward to stand face to face with his sister. He knew he was defenseless, with his bound hands, but he didn't care. He was too upset to think clearly.

"Good. I was beginning to get bored." Azula replied. "Let's try something new, shall we?"

At that, she motioned to the rebel holding Katara, and he proceeded to force her to her knees in front of him and press a long blade against her neck.

_No! Agni, please no! Not her!_ He begged in his thoughts. Instead of voicing his desperation, he managed to say, his voice trembling slightly from the effort to maintain a calm demeanor, "Leave her out of this, Azula. This is between you and me."

"That's what you said last time, remember?" his sister snarled shooting Katara a pointed glare. "But then she had to show up and ruined the game, didn't she? Well, this time, I'm going to make sure that can't happen."

She leaned down and placed her hands on Katara's chin, yanking her face up to meet her gaze. The waterbender returned the look with an equally steely glare. "You, my dear, are going to learn what happens to people who get in my way."

Suddenly, something clicked in Zuko's mind. "You planned all of this, didn't you?" he asked slowly.

"Of course." She replied in a matter-of-fact tone.

"Then the rebel invasion on the Southern Water Tribe wasn't really an invasion at all, was it? I thought that it was too easy to defeat them. You staged that attack, knowing your forces weren't strong enough, for the sole purpose of getting me to go to the Southern Water Tribe, because you knew that when I returned, there was a strong chance I would bring Katara back with me. This whole rebel uprising has been just a ploy, hasn't it? All so you could satiate your desire for revenge." He finished, levelling at her in defiance, his brain spinning with the revelation.

"Well, yes, admittedly, revenge is part of the plan." Azula answered. "But what I want more than anything, Zuko, is the one thing you robbed me of. My throne. But before I take it back, I have just one wish. I wish to see you suffer more pain than you have ever felt before. I want you to lose everything, just like I did when _she_ had to ruin our little grudge match"

"You're the one who's going to lose." He stated bluntly, keeping his eyes fixed on Katara, his heart hammering in his chest as he spied a small drop of blood trickling down her neck. _Not her. Please…_

At that, Azula laughed out loud, a horrible sound that echoed loudly against the bunker walls. "Oh, please, Zuzu. Do you really think your pathetic ragtag team of childhood friends could foil me? I've been planning this since the moment you left me to rot in that infernal prison cell three years ago. By the way, your pity visits made me hate you even more, brother. You had all that power, and you were wasting it, just as I suspected you would. You could have been conquering the world in the name of the fire nation, but you weren't. You were trying to restore peace. I grew angrier and angrier, knowing that you had all the power in the world at your fingertips, all the power that should have been mine, and you weren't even using it. You disgust me. And tonight you're going to pay the ultimate price. You're going to watch the woman you love burn to ashes at the hands of your sister."

Zuko felt his blood go numb. His eyes moved on their own accord towards Katara, and those blue eyes were wider than he had ever seen them before. The tension and shock that moved between them seemed to permeate the room, and for a moment, it seemed to Zuko that no one else in the room was present except for the two of them. _The woman you love _he repeated the phrase in his head as he stared at her, heart pounding so much that the beats almost seemed to morph together, creating a single, pressing sensation within his chest. _I can't lose her now._

At that moment, something astonishing happened. Katara sprang into action. He had no idea how she had gotten free from the chains around her hands, but she suddenly raised her free arms to the sky, and the rebel holding her crumpled to the ground as if knocked over by an invisible force. Once he was able to react, Zuko didn't hesitate. He leapt up and pivoted in midair, sending a burst of flames from his feet to scorch the rebels surrounding him. Once he had cleared a radius around himself, he landed as gracefully as possible and turned to look for Azula. He found her.

She was suspended in midair, a look of terror and shock marring her features. Before her stood Katara, arms raised high in the air, a wild look in her eyes. _What in Agni's name is she doing?_ He wondered.

"Katara!" He shouted, dodging out of the way of a pair of rebels. "Let's get out of here!"

At the sound of his voice, she suddenly blinked, and, as she looked up at Azula, and then at her own hands, he saw a look of horror cross her face, and she abruptly dropped her arms and his sister fell to the ground, unconscious.

Katara's knees began to wobble, and he ran to her side, barely evading the few rebels that were still in fighting condition. He reached her just in time to offer his shoulder for her to grab on to. Refusing to meet his eyes, she shakily reached down to his bound hands, her skin brushing his and sending a tingle down his spine as she undid the chains as quickly as she could.

Once his hands were free, he looked around for an escape, but had barely any time to plan, as a sizeable group of rebels was bearing down on them at that moment. Without thinking twice, he grabbed Katara's hand, knowing she was too fatigued to fight, and bent fire from using one hand, employing all of the one-sided techniques he could remember being taught.

Somehow, they made it to the back door, and he blasted them through it, paying no heed to any need for grace or stealth in his desperation. He could only think of the waterbender beside him, whose steps were becoming labored. _She's too weak to make this trip_, he realized suddenly. _What has she done to herself?_

Once they had climbed the ladder to leave the bunker, Katara's energy seemed to be all but spent. She collapsed to her knees the moment they surfaced in the closet-like entrance room, her chest heaving from the effort.

"_Zuko…_" she whispered, her voice wavering as she looked up at him, an unreadable expression on her face.

Seeing the strong, powerful women he knew like this scared Zuko more than anything. Was she going to make it? Staring down at her, he knew there was only one thing he could do. He bent over and scooped her up into his arms, hooking his left arm under her feet as his right arm supported her head, which drooped complacently to rest against his chest. His determination returning, partly due to the feeling of her in his arms, he began the journey back to their hideout, weaving in and out of corridors with extra caution this time. He had to protect her. He had to bring her to safety, no matter what.

The last word he heard her utter before she passed out entirely was:

"_Zuko…"_

**_Greetings, Readers!_**

**_I apologize profusely for the long wait. I have had a busy week, but that is no excuse._**

**_Sorry for another cliffhanger, but don't worry, it won't be long until you find out what happens to Katara._**

**_Stay tuned for some important conversations next chapter!_**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter VI: A Dose of Kyoshi Wisdom**

The first thing Katara saw when she came to was a familiar pair of striking golden eyes.

Zuko.

Suddenly, the events of that night came rushing back to her like a torrent that nearly swallowed her whole. Her insides churned as she remembered the moment Azula had spoken those loaded words. _Does he love me?_

Then her heart sank as she recalled what had happened next. The intensity in Zuko's eyes and the weight of his sister's threat had been too much for her to handle. She had used the small drop of her blood on her neck to slice through her chains, and then, propelled by a fury unlike any she had ever experienced, she had bloodbent. She shuddered as it all came back to her, the feeling of absolute and total power she had felt as she had suspended Azula in the air, fueled by her anger for Zuko's and her own behalf. At that moment, all she had been able to think of was Zuko's crumpled figure in front of her three years ago, when he had almost died for her sake at his sister's hand. _Does he love me?_

Zuko himself seemed to have registered that she was waking up, as his eyes followed hers with diligence, and she suddenly felt a warm wet cloth pressed to her forehead.

"Zuko.." she mumbled, trying to sit up.

"Take it easy." He said softly, looking at her with such tenderness that she nearly melted right there on the spot. _Does he love me?_

"Hey, I'm supposed to be the one who heals people, remember?" she stammered, feeling stupid immediately after she said it.

Her feeble attempt at a joke seemed to amuse Zuko, however, whose eyes turned up at the sides the way they always seemed to the few times he found something funny. _Does he love me?_

"Is she awake?" another voice broke in, and suddenly her brother's face appeared beside Zuko's. "Katara, can you hear me?"

"How could I not, when you're shouting in my face?" she grumbled softly, and almost chuckled when she saw Zuko shoot Sokka a chiding look that seemed oddly parental.

"Give her space." He ordered

"I will the moment you do." Sokka shot back. Returning his gaze to Katara, he told her, "Seriously, Sparky hasn't left your side since you two returned. It's become a bit excessive, if you ask me."

_Does he love me?_ Katara wondered as Zuko scratched his head, abashed. Instead she asked, "How long have I been unconscious?"

"Well, Zuko carried you in here at around one in the morning, so I suppose it's been about—" Suki offered, only to be cut short by Katara's shocked outburst.

"What? You carried me?" she asked, her face flushing at the very idea as she rounded on Zuko.

"Yeah." He replied defensively, "How else would I have gotten you here?"

"I don't know…" she answered lamely, ducking her head in embarrassment.

Seemingly oblivious to Katara's humiliation, Sokka clapped his hands together, announcing that it was strategy time.

"Okay." He began, "Now that we know that Azula is behind this, we will have to restrategize. She's just too smart to mess around with. What's more, she would recognize any of us, so there's no chance that going incognito will help us. So we'll have to come up with a new plan."

"Ambush?" Suki suggested, shrugging her shoulders at Sokka.

"No." Zuko chimed in firmly, his eyes darkening, "Azula is too dangerous and has too many soldiers under her command. We can't risk open attack. She wants the throne, and she will stop at nothing to get it. She showed last night that mercy is not part of her plan. She was fully prepared to kill Katara."

"But maybe if we have a good enough plan-" Sokka began.

"No!" the firebender interrupted harshly. "Don't underestimate Azula. I know her better than anyone, and I'm telling you that I'm not going to let any of you run into a situation where you could easily be killed! Last night was a close enough call."

At that, he sank to the ground, cradling his head in his hands and gripping the tendrils of his hair in frustration.

Suddenly Aang stepped forward, determination in his eyes. "But I wasn't there last night. Maybe I stand a chance against Azula…"

"I'm sure you do," Katara piped up, "but Zuko's right. I saw how many rebels Azula has on her side, and although you could beat Azula, there will be serious casualties."

"But isn't it worth the risk?" Suki asked, looking just as motivated as the air nomad, the fierce spirit of a Kyoshi warrior glinting in her eyes.

"No! I won't have any more of you getting hurt because of me!" Zuko burst out, standing up and heading away from them, in the direction of the secret room's entrance. The rest of the group watched as he exited.

"What's up with him?" Sokka wondered out loud. "And where is he going? It's not safe…"

Despite the sinking in her stomach, Katara offered, "I'll go see if he's alright."

* * *

Zuko sat on his father's bed, nearly laughing at the irony of the situation. Here he was, the fire lord, hiding out in his own home, because his sister was trying to usurp his throne.

And the cherry on top of this screwed up cake? In the midst of all of this, he still couldn't keep his mind off Katara. The waterbender was haunting him, concern for her driving his every action. He couldn't even think about coming up with a plan of attack right now, his thoughts were still clouded with the memory of the previous night, and the unreadable expression on her face as she had met his gaze the moment Azula had put the unspoken truth into words.

"Zuko?"

He turned to see that Katara herself had followed him. His insides raged at her presence. Agni, why did her eyes have to glow like that, reflecting the sunlight pouring through the window? And why did her hair have to be so attractively messy, wild from the events of the previous night? It wasn't _fair_.

"You're still in recovery." He admonished weakly. "You should be resting."

"Are you alright?" She pressed, ignoring his remark and stepping closer.

He swallowed quickly. "I just…" he replied unable to meet her gaze, "a lot happened last night."

She nodded in understanding and sat down beside him. "I can tell that seeing Azula again like that threw you off. But it's more than that, isn't it?"

His heart leapt in his chest, and he finally forced himself to meet her eyes, shocked to discover the same unreadable expression that they had held last night within their depths.

_Should I… _He wondered, feeling unable to convert his feelings into words. He could feel himself slowly being drawn towards her, as if by an invisible force. She held his gaze unwaveringly, and for a moment it seemed that she was moving her own face closer to his ever so slightly, until—

"Hey, guys, you I know the room is claustrophobic at times, but you really shouldn't be in here. A guard could see you through the window…" Sokka's voice brought Zuko harshly back to reality. Katara jerked her eyes away from his, and he thought he could detect a faint blush creeping up her cheeks even in the dim light. What had just happened between them? Questions wracked Zuko's mind as he followed Katara and her brother back through the passageway and into the secret room. When they were inside, Katara went over to sit by Suki, avoiding his gaze.

Zuko himself followed Sokka to the table, where a map of the palace had been spread out. Sokka flipped it over to its blank side and produced a stick of charcoal, handing it to Zuko. "Can you draw a map of the underground bunker? If we attack, it will help to be somewhat prepared."

Although he still resented the idea of attacking Azula's forces, Zuko complied, if only because he felt that perhaps having a task to occupy his mind would help him to concentrate on other things besides his confusing relationship with a certain waterbender.

As he was finishing up his drawing, he heard a throat clear beside him. Looking up, he saw none other than Mai standing at the table, observing his work with a raised eyebrow.

"I think you've flipped the fire lord's and the fire lady's chambers. Hers is supposed to be in the western wing, his in the east, not the other way around."

Mumbling angrily at his error, he tried his best to smudge out the mistake. Mai sat down beside him. "Something on your mind?" she asked, sounding as bored as usual.

"No."

"Come on, Zuko. I know you. Something's going on with you. What is it?" she pressed.

When he didn't answer, she continued hesitantly, "Is it her?"

At that, he jerked his head up in surprise to meet her knowing gaze. He even thought he detected a small trace of amusement in her perpetually level gaze. Somehow he knew that she wasn't talking about Azula.

"Mai, do you really want to have this conversation right now?" he muttered in response. Even though the rest of the group sat out of earshot around the perimeters of the room, he still felt the need for secrecy.

"Yeah." She replied flatly, "I really do."

"Okay!" he hissed back, his frustration and anxiety reaching their boiling point, "I have feelings for her! Congratulations! You win!"

"Do you think this is a game to me, Zuko?" Mai shot back, narrowing her eyes, "I care about you, Zuko. I didn't come over just to flaunt my perception skills, which, though they are acute, weren't really needed in this case. You're about as obvious as they come when it comes to pining."

"I am not!" he protested. Then he paused for a moment, feeling abashed. "Am I?"

Mai chuckled wryly, "Exhibit A."

"Fine, you've proven your point, Mai. Are you happy?"

"I'm never happy." She deadpanned. "But this isn't about me. It's about you. What are you going to do about this?"

"I don't know, okay?!" Zuko growled. "It doesn't even matter, anyway. We've got a fight to win, and I'm just distracting myself. Besides, she doesn't feel the same way, so—"

"You don't believe that any more than I do, Zuko. And as for distraction, what do you call this? You're so distracted by your brooding that you can't even draw a proper map of a place you've walked through hundreds of times! Believe me, you're going to be even more distracted when we reach the crucial moments of battle if you don't resolve this issue."

"How do I do that?" he inquired, at a loss for ideas.

"Tell her how you feel." Mai answered simply. "Before it's too late."

"You act like that's so easy." He grumbled, his heart pounding at the very idea of confessing his feelings.

"Oh, it's not. But you can do it. You're getting better at voicing your feelings. You admitted them to me, right? That's something."

"Like I even had a choice." He mumbled dryly.

"You're right." She nodded, confident in the success of her direct approach. "You didn't."

She stood up to leave, and as she turned, Zuko was struck by a sudden impulse. "Mai?"

"Mhm?"

"Thanks."

* * *

As Sokka debated with the other two Kyoshi warriors about whether they should return to their undercover positions that day, Katara sat down beside Suki, who looked bored and sleep-deprived.

"Are you alright?" she asked her friend.

Suki laughed. "Shouldn't I be the one asking you that?"

"I'm fine." Katara shrugged.

"You didn't look like it when Zuko carried you in here last night." Suki replied, regarding the waterbender with concerned eyes.

At the mention of Zuko carrying her, Katara felt heat rise to her cheeks for what felt like the twentieth time this morning. _What is wrong with you? _she scolded herself.

Composing herself, she asked her friend in a forcibly casual tone, "So what actually happened when he brought me in here? What did he tell you about last night?" She had been itching to know whether Zuko had revealed that she had used bloodbending, and that that was the reason she had collapsed.

"Not much, actually. Just that you were both captured together, and Azula revealed herself as the rebels' leader, and then a fight broke out, and you passed out from exhaustion, and he narrowly escaped with you in tow. I wonder how he was able to escape Azula, though. Do you remember how she went down?"

Katara shook her head, feeling an overwhelming sense of relief take hold of her. She silently thanked Zuko that he hadn't told the others about the bloodbending. She felt ashamed enough as it was that he had seen her use it, and didn't want the rest of the group to know.

She looked over at the table where the fire lord sat, his shaggy head bent over the parchment as he worked. He looked fully immersed in his work until Mai walked over and got his attention. Katara watched with interest as she sat down beside him and they bent their heads together in a quiet conversation.

She felt a sudden flash of an odd sort of resentment towards the Kyoshi warrior as she regarded the pair. _Wait, what?_ She thought to herself in surprise. _Are you_ jealous_? What is_ wrong _with you?_

Shaking her head in an attempt to rid her mind of such a strange notion, she returned her attention to Suki, who was now staring at her with an odd expression painted across her features. "Sorry, I zoned out for a bit there," she said quickly, "What was it you were saying?"

"I didn't say anything." Her friend responded, looking bemused, "But is there anything _you_ want to say to me?"

"What do you mean?"

"I have eyes, you know." Suki said in an exasperated tone. "You were just ogling Zuko."

"What?" Katara nearly shouted, her heartbeat quickening, "That's absurd. I certainly was not."

"Don't insult my intelligence. You're as obvious as they come."

"What are you implying?" Katara demanded, determined to keep her voice from trembling due to her high strung emotions.

"Please, Katara. I'm being about as subtle as you are. And that's saying something." Suki replied, rolling her eyes, "Now I'm going to leave you be, because you look like you need to think some things through." At that, the Kyoshi warrior stood up and walked over to stand with Sokka and Ty Lee, leaving Katara sitting alone on the floor, her mouth hanging open, rendered dumbstruck by the exchange.

She was barely given time to reflect upon the conversation, however, as, at that moment, Zuko stood up and said he was finished drawing the map of the bunker, and the group, led by Sokka, proceeded to cluster around the small table to study it.

"Alright," her brother declared, once again asserting his authority, "So Azula and the rebels are here." At that, he pointed to the central room in the bunker, the throne room.

"So…" Aang began, looking at Sokka in anticipation of a plan.

"So we need to figure out the most risk-free way of infiltrating it. Zuko, are there any secret entrances?"

The firebender shrugged. "Not that I know of. Besides the back door, and we all know how well that entrance worked for me last night."

"Okay, so no back door. Got it." Sokka replied, scratching his chin and contemplating the map some more.

"This is going nowhere." Mai stated bluntly, not even attempting to mask her exasperation.

"Have you got any better suggestions, Miss Grumpy Pants?" Sokka shot back.

Ignoring the nickname, she deadpanned. "We should go back to the original plan. By going undercover for a bit more time, we could discover more of the rebels' secrets, and at least be more prepared for when we do inevitably face Azula. Katara's cover is blown, but the rest of us haven't raised any suspicions yet."

"None that you know of." Zuko piped up darkly. "Mai, you of all people should know not to underestimate Azula. Now that she knows Katara and I are here, she's going to have her soldiers on the lookout for the rest of our group. And she knows exactly what all of you look like."

At that, the group fell silent.

"So…" Ty Lee said slowly, voicing what was on everyone's mind, "What should we do?"

* * *

After a long day of being cooped up in the tiny, window-less secret room, listening to his friends bicker about their next course of action, all Zuko wanted to do was escape.

Regarding their predicament, they had decided to, as Sokka had put it, "Sleep on it." The rest of the group seemed to be having some success at this, as Zuko could hear the sounds of their relaxing breathing echoing softly throughout the room. He, however, could not fall asleep, no matter how hard he tried. The sight of Azula threatening Katara wouldn't stop replaying in his mind.

_This is useless,_ he thought, slowly pushing himself up on his elbows.

From his heightened position, he had a clear view of his sleeping friends. Mai and Ty Lee were lumped together closest to the passageway leading to his father's room, While Aang had opted for a spot on the floor underneath the table. He felt a pang of envy in his chest as his eyes swept over Sokka and Suki, who were curled in each other's arms. _They make it look so easy…_

Finally, his gaze inevitably came to rest on Katara's sleeping form, about three feet from where he lay. Inching closer, he peered closely at her, marveling at how beautiful she looked as she slept. On a blind impulse, he reached over to brush a stray lock of hair out of her face, allowing his fingers to linger for a brief moment on her soft cheek.

_What am I doing? _He asked himself for the umpteenth time, forcing himself to withdraw his hand and scoot away from the waterbender.

He needed to clear his mind. And he knew that there was only one place that he could truly do that. Sighing softly in resignation, he rose to his feet.

* * *

"_Well, are you ready?"_

_Katara stared at Suki. The Kyoshi warrior stood before her, clad in an ornate dress and holding a bouquet. After wondering where she was for a moment, it suddenly registered with her. _Sokka and Suki's wedding, of course! _She admonished herself for forgetting._

_She walked towards the double doors, which looked strangely familiar. The doors opened, and she saw a crowded hall, which she suddenly recognized as the bunker throne room. _That's odd_, she thought_, why would Sokka and Suki get married here?

_Suddenly she looked down the aisle, and her blood ran cold. Standing at the end of the aisle was Zuko, dressed in full fire lord regalia, staring at her expectantly. She looked down at herself, noticing for the first time that she carried a bouquet herself, and wore a dress that was even more flamboyant than Suki's. And to top it all off, it was red._

_Despite the numb feeling inside her, she began to walk down the aisle, feeling an acute need to reach Zuko as quickly as possible. However, as she proceeded down the aisle, She didn't seem to be coming any closer to Zuko. In fact, he seemed to be slowly fading into the distance._

"_NO!" she heard herself scream._

Suddenly, she was jolted awake. As soon as she registered her surroundings, taking in the familiar room, dread welled up in the pit of her stomach. Feeling a sudden need to see Zuko, she turned to look for the firebender, but he was nowhere to be found.

She had a sudden thought that perhaps there was some truth behind her dream, and panic rose in her stomach as she contemplated her friend's absence. _No, that's ridiculous_, she told herself, _That dream was crazy, remember? You were _marrying_ Zuko, for crying out loud!_

Suppressing the small part of her that told her that such a scenario might not be so far-fetched after all, she stood up, deciding against her better judgement that she was going to look for the firebender. And for some odd reason, she had a feeling she knew exactly where he had disappeared to.

As it turned out, her suspicions had been correct. She now stood in Zuko's bedroom, peering out the door that lead to the courtyard. On the bench before the pond sat her friend's hunched figure. She quietly stepped into the garden, not wanting to disturb his thoughts. As she moved closer, she was alarmed to see that Zuko held a small piece of bread in his hands, which he was tearing apart and feeding to a few small turtleducks that were flapping about in the pond, seemingly excited by the prospect of a snack

Her heart warmed at the sight, and she wondered how often Zuko sat here. In a strnge way, the small garden seemed to suit him, as if it were made for him. She opened her mouth to speak, but Zuko must have sensed her presence, for he spoke first.

"I come here when I need to think."

"It's beautiful." She replied quietly, not knowing what else to say.

He turned to face her, his eyes boring into hers with an intensity that both frightened her and mesmerized her. "My mother built it, when she lived here." He said softly.

Knowing that he rarely spoke of his mother, and that it was a sensitive subject, Katara didn't reply. Instead, she sat down on the bench beside him. She could feel warmth radiating off of him, and couldn't help scooting a bit closer than she normally would.

"She would really like you, you know." He said.

Katara looked at him in surprise, but he didn't meet her gaze. He simply continued to stare at the pond, as if lost in thought. Suddenly recalling their conversation a few nights ago at the south pole, she felt an odd urge to share with him what she hadn't had a chance to that night.

"Aang doesn't love me." She found herself blurting out.

When Zuko turned towards her in surprise, she elaborated. "I mean, that's why I was troubled during our last night in the south."

Zuko was staring at her with and unreadable expression. "Of course Aang loves you." he replied, adding, in a softer, somewhat bitter tone, "Have you seen the way he looks at you?"

"I know that, I just… He doesn't love me in the way that… in the way that I…" she began, wavering under the intensity of Zuko's gaze.

"In the way that you deserve to be." He finished quietly.

Katara felt heat rise in her cheeks, and was suddenly grateful that it was dark enough that Zuko couldn't see her blushing. "I didn't mean to sound—"

"No Katara." He interjected firmly. "Stop. You are always thinking about others, and trying to tend to their needs. But when was the last time you thought about what you need? If Aang isn't willing to make a sacrifice for you, then you shouldn't feel guilty for resenting that. You're finally realizing what you want. What you need. What you _deserve._"

"And what is that?" I whispered back, lost in his eyes, which glowed silver in the pale blue moonlight.

"Everything." He replied simply. Katara stared back at him, her heart pounding as his words registered in her mind. She suddenly realized how close they were, so close that she could nearly count the eyelashes on his good eye.

"Zuko…" she murmured softly, overcome by emotions that she couldn't quite place. On a sudden impulse, she reached her hand up to his face and lightly touched his scar, something she hadn't done since that night in the catacombs in Ba Sing Se, years ago. Zuko closed his eyes as she ran her fingers over it, sighing and leaning into her tough ever so slightly.

"Katara…" he rasped, breathing her name with a strange sort of desperation in his voice.

She felt her eyes closing as she relished in the sensation of their closeness. When his lips met hers, she was ready for it. How different this was than her first kiss with Aang. Aang had taken her by surprise, roughly jumping on her before she had any say in the matter. Zuko's lips, in contrast, moved over hers slowly, caressing with a gentleness that took her by surprise. She slid her hand from his face to his neck, pulling him closer to deepen the kiss.

A thousand thoughts were pounding at her brain, but the pounding of her heart was drowing them out, and she honestly couldn't think straight as she felt Zuko's hand slowly descend to rest lightly on her waist, holding her steadily against him as he—

"Whoa there, you two!"

At the piercing sound of the familiar voice, Katara and Zuko bolted apart more quickly than either of them would have anticipated, and the movement was so violent that Katara was sent sprawling off the bench.

Feeling incredibly stupid and embarrassed, Katara looked up to detect the source of the interruption, her heart beating wildly as she pointedly avoided Zuko's gaze.

Standing in the center of the courtyard was a familiar petite black haired girl, arms crossed, wearing her trademark devious smile.

"So this is what happens when I'm not around, huh. Oh man, I can't wait to tell Snoozles about this one. I _told _him to watch out for you, Sparky, but he just wouldn't listen."

Overcome by her confusion and surprise, Katara stammered in response,

"T-Toph?"

_**Hello, Readers! It has been a while, hasn't it? I sincerely apologize for the wait, and I hope you know that I do intend on finishing this fic.**_

_**My semester is over, so hopefully there won't be any more long waits. Thanks for your patience, and for sticking with me!**_

_**This was an important chapter; I'd love to hear your feedback on it. **_

_**Until next time...**_


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter VII: The Unexpected Wildcard**

"So this is the welcome I get?" came the earthbender's snarky reply. "Wow, it's great to see you too, Sweetness. I'd love to catch up, that is, if you're not too busy sucking face with Sparky here."

Recovering from his initial shock at seeing his old friend, Zuko pushed aside his embarrassment and asked, "How did you get here? How did you even know to come?"

"Well, I went to Kyoshi Island because I heard Twinkletoes was there, and thought we were overdue for a good pounding session. Much to my surprise, when I got there, I heard he had gone to the Southern Water Tribe. So, despite my hatred for ice, I journeyed there. Then chief Hakoda told me you all had come on some mission here. Frankly, I'm insulted that you didn't include me. I'm surprised you're all still in one piece. Without me, I thought you'd be lost."

Katara snorted loudly.

Toph rounded on the waterbender, a steely glint in her pale gaze. "I'd be nice to me, Sugar Queen, unless you want me to tell everyone about your rendezvous with the fire lord."

Zuko felt his heart quicken at the mention of the kiss. In truth, his head was still spinning. He tried to distinguish Katara's reaction to Toph's threat, but her face was half hidden from him in the shadows of the night.

Trying to divert his tumultuous thoughts, he asked Toph, "But how did you find us in this courtyard?"

"Seriously?" the earthbnder responded incredulously, now directing her irritation towards him. "I can see with my feet, remember? Sheesh, it hasn't been that long."

A moment of silence fell over the trio, and Zuko was left with his reeling thoughts, suddenly feeling as if he had stupidly overlooked something incredibly obvious.

"Toph!" he exclaimed. "I am so glad you've come!"

On a sudden impulse, he leapt up to embrace his petite friend, who immediately began violently trying to extricate herself from his arms.

"Sparky! Watch it! Don't you dare start kissing _me_ now… What happened, you've become all…. Soft and… _affectionate_ in your old age…" She spat, as if in an attempt to insult him, but when he let her go, he saw that she was smiling slightly.

He found himself beaming back at her, despite himself. He had suddenly realized that they now had exactly what they needed to thwart Azula.

"Come on. Let's go see the others."

* * *

"So, what you're saying is: now that we have Toph, we can ambush Azula and the rebels from the _ceiling?_"

That was Sokka's incredulous response to Zuko's idea, the one that he had woken the entire group up to divulge.

"Yeah!" the firebender replied emphatically. "Toph can use her earth and metal bending to get us through the ceiling of the bunker! It's the most covert way we could catch them by surprise… It would give us the advantage we need."

"Ok, I'm all for pounding on your crazy sister, but we need to formulate a more specific plan. You're not thinking this through enough." Sokka replied

"What's to think through?" argued Toph, "Zuko's right, and the faster we act, the better! No offense, but there's no time to have tea and catch up."

There was a pause, and then, much to Katara's surprise, her brother nodded. "Ok." He said, his face set in determination, "What do we need to do?"

* * *

_I can't believe Zuko carried me all this way,_ Katara thought as she and Aang snuck through the halls towards the bunker entrance.

Feeling a blush rise to her cheeks as she thought about him, and the kiss they had shared, she tried to suppress her tumultuous feelings, but they just kept on pressing at her. She hadn't had a chance to share more than a few words with Zuko since the moment they had shared by the pond, and she wasn't sure if she was relieved or frustrated by this.

Now, she was headed back to the bunker with Aang. They would serve as the distraction, while the rest of the group attacked from above. Katara was not eager to see Azula again. She didn't need a reminder of what had happened the night before. Shame and guilt coursed through her as she remembered the feeling of having complete control over Azula, like some twisted puppeteer. What had Zuko thought, when he saw his sister completely at her mercy? _Zuko's sister_, she thought in horror, _She's still Zuko's sister…_

Her reverie was interrupted by the sensation of Aang tapping her on the shoulder. He motioned to the closet door. She nodded, mouthing, _"That's the one."_

They descended the ladder and made their way through the shadowy passageways of the bunker They had to backtrack a few times, as, although Katara had studied the map Zuko had drawn, there were still some confusing turns, and Katara suspected that his representation hadn't been completely accurate.

In truth, it felt odd to be down here with Aang. They hadn't exactly spoken since she had lost her temper with him back at the south pole, and she didn't really know if she wanted to talk to him at all. _What would he think,_ she found herself wondering, _if it had been he who had walked in on Zuko and I kissing? _She mentally scolded herself for wondering about such a thing. _Than has nothing to do with my relationship with Aang, _she tried to tell herself. Truthfully, she knew that that was a lie. Their three destinies were now lying in a tangled heap.

As they came upon the door to the throne room, Katara forced herself to focus on the mission at hand. That was a difficult task, however, as the large, ornate front doors looked exactly as they had in her dream that night, and she couldn't banish thoughts of a certain fire lord from her mind. _This is bizarre,_ she thought wryly, _Just four years ago, I hated the fire nation with every ounce of my being, and now I'm having fantasies about the leader of the fire nation himself._ She shook her head at the irony. Her head was beginning to ache from all of her thinking.

"Are you ready?" Aang whispered to her, sounding painfully similar to the way Suki had sounded in her dream. She nodded, pushing aside all of her thoughts for the moment.

She made to open the door, but suddenly Aang grabbed her wrist to stop her.

"Wait—" he hissed.

"What?!"

"If anything happens in there, Katara—"

"We're going to be fine, Aang. This is going to work." She assured him.

"But we should clear some things up." He said, a desperate look in his eyes. "What about us?"

"Aang, now is not the time to—Mmf!"

Katara was cut short as Aang crashed his lips into hers, moving them urgently against hers, as if trying to communicate something he couldn't express with words. But Katara just wasn't getting any message at all. All she could think about in that moment was Zuko, and the look in his eyes when she had touched his scar, and how _right _it had felt to kiss him. So she pushed Aang away.

"Neither of us deserve this." She said quietly but firmly. "We are done, Aang."

In saying that, she found her strength. Forcing herself to ignore the hurt in her friend's eyes, she pushed the double doors open with a flourish and stepped into the throne room, extracting plenty of water from her heavily filled skins as she strode in to meet the rebel forces, who had already rushed to meet her.

She was ready for whatever they threw at her, but it was a lot. Even with Aang at her side, fighting with every ounce of power he had, they were sorely out-numbered. After a while, they were going to lose energy. Please Zuko, come quickly, she pleaded silently as she fought off two firebenders at once.

"Stop!" came a loud command, "Seize them, you fools!"

Suddenly everything was a blur as Katara looked around for the source of the voice, distracted, and allowed herself to be grabbed from behind. Struggling against the rebel's hold, she looked to her left to see Aang in a similar situation, being held by two rebels. Everyone in the room had stopped moving and were staring at the far end of the room. Azula herself emerged from the shadows, and a direct path to were Katara and Aang were being held cleared for her. True to her over-dramatic tendencies, she took her time in reaching them.

She stopped directly in front of Katara, staring at her with a look of intense hatred that could not be masked by the fake glint of deranged humor always present in her eyes.

"Nice to see you again." She spat, sneering. She spared Aang a side glance. "I see you've upgraded from my brother. Nonetheless, even the Avatar hasn't the power to defeat the true fire lord. And not even your _witchcraft_ can."

Katara shut her eyes in anger and remorse. She could hear Aang shifting his weight at her side.

"Oh, you didn't know, Avatar?" Azula crooned, "Your _angelic _friend is really a demon in disguise. Have you ever seen her, the way she can control people's bodies? And I thought _I_ was evil."

Dread welled up in Katara's stomach as she heard Aang suck in his breath. Azula walked back to face her, smiling wickedly.

"Oh yes. You think you're a hero? You're no better than I am, water tribe scum. The only difference between you and me is that, instead of deluding myself into thinking I'm some sort of saint, I embrace the power. I become the power. I—"

All of a sudden, a loud rumble sounded from above, and suddenly, boulders rained from the ceiling. A small, green clad figure rode one down, her rock landing directly on the hem of Azula's robe, so that the former fire princess was forced to her knees by the impact.

"Sorry to interrupt your evil victory speech, _Your Highness._" Toph quipped cheekily.

Katara had never been happier to see her earthbending friend. The rest of the group were descending from the ruined ceiling. She saw her brother and the Kyoshi warriors leaping down, Suki somehow holding onto Sokka while she ricocheted off the fallen debris and the walls, but her eyes automatically sought Zuko. A blast of fire announced his presence, as he landed in the throne room and automatically began to fight rebels with an unparalleled fervor.

Suddenly remembering the battle at hand, Katara lept into action with new found energy, warding off her capturer with a well-aimed kick and using her water to form her trusty whips, which she used to swiftly knock out him and the soldier holding Aang. Avoiding her gaze, the air nomad jumped into action himself, running to Toph's side to join her in the task of hurling rocks at the scattered, surprised rebels.

_Where's Azula? _Katara wondered suddenly, realizing that she had somehow extracted herself from the rock, leaving behind a ripped piece of her garment

Hearing Zuko's familiar shout, she turned frantically. _There she is. _The firebending siblings were fighting ferociously, meeting each other blow for blow. She started towards them, wanting to help, but was quickly accosted by a large group of firebenders who seemed set on singing off her eyebrows. Fueled by her anxiety, she fought back fiercely, desperate to reach Zuko.

_Spirits, please let him hold her off…_

* * *

"Always a pleasure, brother!" Azula chirped.

His sister's constant ridicule was only infuriating Zuko more. He punched at her furiously, his fire blasts fueled by anger and hurt. He still couldn't fathom how it had come to this, brother fighting sister for At tholding himself back. After everything she had put him through, he still didn't want to hurt her. She was still his sister.

She deflected his blow, laughing maniacally. "Well, well, well, Zuzu. It seems you have been practicing—how nice of you! You know how I love a challenge, and fighting you used to be such a bore! Did you train more, just for me?! You _really_ shouldn't have!"

At that, she shot a heavy stream of blue flames at him, one so intense and huge that he was forced to leap up the walls to avoid it, propelling himself upward with a blast of fire until he just barely reached the jagged edge of the large opening Toph had blasted into the ceiling. He pulled himself up, just having enough time to rise to his feet before Azula shot after him, propelling herself up through the chasm with a strong blaze of fire, landing neatly across from him at the rim of the hole.

She shot a series of consecutive fireballs at him, and as he warded them off, he looked down through the hole to survey the battle scene. His eyes spotted Katara's blue figure in an instant. His heart quickened in panic as he saw her surrounded by rebels on all sides.

_Agni, no!_ he prayed silently, fear raging inside him.

He suddenly felt himself being blasted off his feet. He hit the ground a few feet from the chasm's edge, and felt the ground sink beneath his weight, as if it were unstable. _Oh no…_ he thought, dread overtaking him.

Azula's figure seemingly materialized before him. She stood above him, as imposing as ever.

"Azula…" he began weakly, coughing up some blood, "We have to get to more stable ground…"

"Don't try tool fool me, brother," she snarled, her face twisted in hatred. "You are weak. Why would I listen to you?"

_Agni, how did she become like this? _Zuko wondered, as he winced under her malicious gaze.

He replied the only way he knew how, reminded of the way that Uncle had treated a certain misguided younger version of himself. "Because I love you, Azula."

His sister's face contorted in rage. "Love is weakness!" she spat, her voice wavering slightly, recovering a bit of the familiar instability it had held during their Agni-Kai. "This is why you are unfit to rule. Because you love."

"You're wrong, Azula." He replied, feeling nothing but sadness as he regarded her. "Love is strength."

She opened her mouth to reply, but he never got to hear her answer, because suddemly the ground began to tremble violently beneath them, probably due to the ferocity of the fight raging below them.

Zuko watched in horror as the ground beneath Azula's feet began to crumble, and she fell to her knees and began to slide away from him, down towards the chasm.

"Take my hand!" he shouted, reaching for her. He ran after her, ignoring the ground caving in beneath him. He managed to grab hold of the rim of the hole, hanging on and watching as his sister wavered unsteadily on the rock she saw on, about a foot lower than where he hung. He reached down for her, and she stared up at him, hatred still marring her features.

For a moment, she looked as if she might take his hand, but it was too late. The rocks gave way beneath her, and Zuko watched in shock and anguish as she fell through the air towards the hard floor. The last expression he was able to make out on his sister's face was one of fear, a look he had never seen on her face before. Then she hit the ground with a sickening crunch.

"NO!" he heard himself screaming.

Suddenly his own hold gave way, and he felt himself plummeting to the ground. His last thought was that it was fitting that he share his sister's fate, and that perhaps with his death, all of this senseless violence would come to an end, before he felt himself splash headfirst into a large wave of water. Momentarily stunned, he was buoyed up, and the wave gently swelled so that he landed on the ground with little impact.

He blinked his vision blurry, but he could make out a pair of blue eyes above him, and could feel small but firm arms wrapped tightly around his shoulders. He moaned incoherently, trying to find words.

The last words he heard before blacking out were:

"_Shh Zuko…"_

"_It's going to be alright. You're alright…"_

* * *

Katara stared down at the body of her greatest enemy. It was strange seeing Azula like this. All the time that Katara had known her, she had always seemed, above all else, so alive. There had always been a raging light in her eyes. Now, she stared blankly forward, expressionless. Empty.

She had had to lobby with her brother just to keep Azula's body. He and the rest of the group had wanted to just leave her down in the bunker with the ruins of the battle that she had started, but they had won. Katara had carried Azula herself, watching the forms of her brother and Aang supporting Zuko's unconscious body.

She remembered seeing Azula falling, and hearing Zuko's scream. It had been too late to save Azula, but when she saw Zuko falling, her paralyzing fear had had triggered some power inside of her, and she had nearly conjured a massive wave just out of the moisture in the air to catch him. She could clearly remember the sensation of cradling him in her arms, praying to the spirits that he stay alive. And he did.

Shaking herself from her recollections, she resumed her vigil, watching over Azula's body alone in Fire Lord Ozai's old bedroom. It had been the only place she could think of to keep her.

"Katara." She heard a familiar voice rasp from behind her.

Standing up quickly, she turned around to see Zuko standing in the doorway to the room, his expression a mixture of grief and exhaustion. For once, she didn't scold him for neglecting to rest as he approached his sister's body.

He knelt down beside the bed, his eyes glued to Azula's lifeless form. Katara watched as, his arm trembling, he reached over and gently closed his sister's eyes for the last time.

A heavy silence hung over the room for a moment, and then Zuko's shoulder's began to shake, and Katara heard soft sobs coming from him as he cradled his head in his hands. Not knowing what else to do, she slowly wrapped her arms around his shoulders, holding his trembling figure. Instead of resisting, Zuko sunk into her, latching his own arms around her and burying his head into her shoulder, as if trying to revive himself with her quiet strength.

She didn't know how long they sat like that wrapped so tightly in each other's embrace that they trembled, cried, and grieved as one. It didn't matter, because it was just the two of them, and it felt right.

* * *

"So… What do we do now?"

Suki's question gave a voice to the hesitation they were all feeling. It had been a few days since the battle, and the group had been pretty busy sorting matters out. Zuko had been the busiest, interrogating rebels to find out what they had done to his advisors. Some had been killed, but the others had been locked in the closets lining the halls of the bunker, kept prisoner for days before they were rescued.

The palace staff was working overtime to keep up with the pace of affairs. The workers in the infirmary had to tend to everyone's injuries, the maids were busy preparing and tending proper quarters for the guests who had, up until recently, been in hiding. The kitchen staff were working overtime, preparing meals and trying in vain to get Zuko to eat.

There had been so many things to do that he couldn't rest for one minute, even if he had wanted to. In truth, throwing himself into his work helped to numb the pain of losing Azula. Now, however, the clean-up work was pretty much finished, and the group stood in the front entry hall of the palace, contemplating their next course of action.

Zuko's heart warmed with appreciation for his friends, without whom he would never have defeated the rebels. They had done so much for him, and he didn't know how to repay them. As his eyes ran over the entire group, they inevitably came to rest on Katara, who stood a bit apart from the rest, smiling at him. Drinking in her warm gaze like it was the only sustenance he required, he stood up to speak.

"Thank you all for everything you have done. I, and the fire nation, are forever in your debt. You—"

"Now don't get all sappy and soft on us now, Sparky!" Toph crowed.

The whole group chuckled for a bit before Sokka piped up, "You know what? I think this calls for a group hug!"

At that, Zuko found himself being pulled into the group embrace, which inevitably morphed into an awkward mash of limbs and scattered laughter and "Ow, Sokka, that was my foot," but was still heartwarming.

"I have another idea!" Sokka announced a few moments later.

"Are you the fire lord now Snoozles?" Toph joked, "Sheesh."

Ignoring that comment, Sokka declared, "We should have a feast! I could use some good food!"

Zuko smiled. Although he normally hated feasts and ceremonies, a celebration sounded like an easy way to get his friends to stay in the palace for a few days longer. Truthfully, he didn't want any of them to leave yet. _Especially not her_… he thought with a pang as he stole another glance at Katara.

"Now that sounds like an excellent idea," a loud, familiar voice echoed from behind Zuko, "Wouldn't you agree, Nephew?"

His heart leaping with joy, Zuko turned around to see none other than his longest friend and beloved Uncle Iroh. Without a thought, he embraced him tightly.

"Uncle!" he gasped when they pulled apart, "When did you get here?"

"Too late, I'm afraid." Iroh replied, his face downcast, "Hakoda wrote to me to tell me what was going on, and I came as quickly as I could." More quietly, he whispered, "I heard about Azula. I came to pay my respects."

Feeling tears well up in his eyes despite himself, Zuko nodded, immeasurably grateful for his uncle's unexpected appearance.

"Come on," he said, "I'll bring you to her."

* * *

The next evening, Zuko stood in his bedroom, feeling incredibly unsure of himself. He felt stupid, standing in front of his closet, worrying about what to wear, when a few days ago, his apparel would have been the last of his concerns.

He sighed and selected a set of ceremonial robes that was formal, but not too formal, and walked to his dresser to pick up his crown, which Hakoda had sent by messenger hawk, having apparently found in among his other belongings in the abandoned air ship at the south pole. He had been surprised when he had unwrapped it, realizing that he hadn't even noticed its absence, even when he had been fighting to maintain his position as fire lord. But, in truth, he knew that he hadn't really been fighting for that. He had been fighting for his friends, and that was why he had won. Because they had been fighting for him, too.

_Love is strength. _

As he was struggling with the clasps of his robe, he heard someone clearing their throat behind him.

"Need help?"

He turned around, and nearly fainted at the sight that met his eyes.

Standing there, leaning against the frame of his open door, was Katara, a twinkle of humor in her eyes as she watched him struggle. She was wearing a long, dark blue dress, so dark that it looked like the night sky. It hugged her slender body in all of the right places. She had tied her hair up in an elegant bun, allowing her beautiful features to be fully seen. Her mother's necklace remained on her neck, glinting in the dim light, its blue perfectly matching her glowing eyes.

She was stunning.

Suddenly regaining his ability to talk, Zuko stammered, "K-Katara! You look…"

"I know." She said, laughing. "Too much, right? Your uncle insisted I wear something nice, and then proceeded to bring me a whole trunk-full of dresses, but I just feel silly."

"I was going to say that you look amazing." Zuko blurted out, feeling an odd sort of warmth flood him as he detected a faint blush on the waterbender's face.

"Thanks." She replied, smiling. "Here, let me help."

At that, she reached up with nimble fingers and began to work at the difficult clasp. When she had finished that, she motioned for him to sit down and asked, "May I?" holding out her hand.

His heartbeat quickening, he handed her the crown. She worked her fingers through his hair, gently pulling it up into a neat top-knot. For a quiet moment, Zuko allowed himself to relish the feeling of her hands in his hair, which was strangely soothing. Then she finished and he stood up.

"There." She remarked, a small, slightly sad smile on her face. "Now you look like the fire lord."

"Thanks."

A short pause fell over the room, as they looked into each other's eyes, expressing feelings that they were not yet ready to put into words.

"Well…" she said after a moment, "I'd better get going. See you in a bit."

Zuko nodded and watched as she exited the room, stopping for a moment at the doorway to smile back at him softly.

When she was gone, he let out a sigh.

"I knew you'd like that color on her." A sly voice piped up behind him.

Turning around, he saw none other than his uncle Iroh, smiling at him like the cat that got the canary

_Oh no…_ he thought.

_**Greetings, Readers! This was a big chapter, jam-packed with a lot of events.**_

_**Let me know what you thought of it!**_

_**Don't worry, this fic is not over yet... I've got some nice angst and fluff planned, so stick around if you are liking this!**_

_**Happy reading!**_


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter VIII: A Blushing Banquet**

"And lastly, no victory would have been possible without the friends that risked their lives to end this crisis. My great thanks go out to Avatar Aang, Sokka and Katara of the Southern Water Tribe, Toph Beifong, and the Kyoshi Warriors, Suki, Mai, and Ty Lee. The fire nation is in your debt. You have shown that anything is possible when all four nations collaborate. Thank you."

Zuko turned towards the small group and raised his glass, an action that was mirrored by the crowd of fire nation nobles seated at the tables filling the banquet hall. Katara felt heat rise to her cheeks as the guests toasted them, but it was a good, satisfying kind of embarrassment.

She stared at Zuko in wonder as he made the rounds, greeting nobles individually and carrying on conversations with each. He had clearly become more confident making public appearances after three years of experience. Somehow, she had a feeling that he wasn't enjoying himself at all, but he was doing a good job hiding his inevitable discomfort.

She couldn't help thinking back to all that had happened in the past few days, and realized that the moments that came to the foreground of her mind were the moments she had shared with Zuko. Instead of recalling the adrenaline of battling the rebels, she dwelled on the feeling of Zuko's lips pressed against hers, urgent but gentle. She could vividly recall the sensation of running her hands through the soft tendrils of his hair a few hours ago, when she had been helping him prepare for the celebration. She realized then that she had always had an odd, subconscious desire to touch his hair.

"Enjoying the view?" a familiar voice broke her from her reverie.

When she looked to her left to find Toph sitting beside her, a knowing look on her face, Katara felt herself blush even more furiously. Actually, she found that the more she tried to suppress her blushing, the hotter her face grew.

"What?" she responded defensively, trying to appear casual.

"You heard me, Sugar Queen. Don't play dumb with me. I caught you snogging him, remember?"

"Keep your voice down!" Katara hissed, even though the rest of their group was gone, probably in line at the food tables.

Toph smiled in triumph, seemingly satisfied that she had struck a nerve. "So what are you going to do?" she asked.

"About what?"

"About your massive crush on Sparky, duh." The earthbender shot back bluntly.

Katara's shoulders slumped in defeat. "Even if I did have a 'crush,' and I'm not saying I do, why would I have to _do _anything about it."

"Because I think we both know that this is more than a crush. You broke up with Aang for plenty of reasons, I'm sure, but I think a certain firebender had a lot to do with it. Whether you're ready to admit that to yourself or not, it's the truth." Toph stated in a level tone of voice, as if she were simply speaking about something simple, like the weather. Katara stared incredulously at her friend, who normally cared more about hurling rocks than talking about relationships.

"What?" Toph scoffed, "I'm only telling you this because the two of you are irritating me with your skittish behavior. I mean, seriously, when you two are in the same room, I'm forced to feel both of your heartbeats creating a mini earthquake. Not going to lie, it's rather annoying. And it's been going on for far longer than I care to mention."

Thoroughly miffed, Katara crossed her arms in indignation. "Well, I hate to disappoint you, but I don't plan on doing anything about this tonight."

"Why not?" the earthbender inquired in irritation. "It's a party. It's the perfect time to. So you're telling me right now that if Sparky came over here in a few minutes and asked you to dance, you'd turn him down?"

Katara felt her face grow even redder at the thought. "Well, that's just ridiculous!" she spluttered, "That would never happen."

"But if it did, what would you do?"

"That's irrelevant." Katara said firmly, trying to shut down the topic once and for all, as she spotted the others coming back with plates laden with food.

In response, Toph rolled her eyes. "Whatever. But sooner or later, I'm pretty sure I'm going to find out your answer to that question."

"What question?" Sokka cut in cheerfully, his mouth already full of food as he settled back into his seat.

"Uhh… Toph was just asking me why I wasn't eating…" Katara replied in desperation, "I was just about to say that I've been feeling a bit nauseous."

"Too bad." Her brother replied, stuffing in another mouthful, "This fire nation food is really growing on me, now that you mention it…"

At that, Toph and Sokka began to argue about whether earth kingdom food or fire nation food was better, and Katara felt herself relax, relieved to be finished with such an uncomfortable conversation.

Still, she couldn't quite banish the earthbender's remarks from her mind. She couldn't help but stare at Zuko and imagine what it would be like to dance with him.

* * *

_Dancing._

Zuko sighed. Somehow, it had slipped his mind that such a thing happened at these sort of events. He could remember several awkward dances he had shared with Mai during some of the events earlier in his career as fire lord, when they had still been together. He had always disliked the activity, and now his uncle was urging him in earnest to engage. He should have known that this would happen.

"It's only right that you ask her to dance, Zuko. You finally have a lady interested in you, and you would rather sulk on the sidelines? Go ask her!"

Zuko stared at his uncle, bewildered. "But Katara isn't interested in me." He said hesitantly.

"Of course she is!" Iroh argued, "Nephew, sometimes you can be so incredibly dense. Just ask her. What have you got to lose?"

"My dignity…" Zuko muttered under his breath.

Apparently not hearing his nephew, Iroh stood up. "Where are you going?" Zuko inquired.

"If you're not going to ask her yourself, I'll do it for you." His uncle replied simply, as if the answer were obvious.

As he turned to head towards where Katara was sitting, Zuko stood up in a panic and grabbed his sleeve. "Uncle! Don't!"

"Oh, good." His uncle said, smiling in satisfaction. "So you've finally come to your senses and decided to ask her yourself? Thank Agni."

Too annoyed to protest any longer. Zuko grumbled to himself and headed towards Katara himself. As he came closer to her, his nerves began to quicken as he wondered what she would think. Thankfully, Sokka and Suki were already on the dance floor, and Aang was nowhere to be seen. Toph was playing with a small piece of metal, bending it into various complicated figures as Katara looked on in mild interest.

"Hey." He said in greeting, unsure of how to introduce his request.

"Zuko!" Katara exclaimed, jumping about a foot in her chair at the sound of his voice, "I didn't see you coming…" she said sheepishly, fiddling with her hair.

_Agni, she's adorable… _Zuko thought to himself, blushing furiously. "Sorry. I was just… Umm.." he shot Toph a side glance, as the earthbender had now paused her activity and had begun to stare at him expectantly, her eyebrows raised.

"Spit it out, Sparky." The petite girl said, looking thoroughly amused.

Irked by the enjoyment Toph found in watching him squirm, Zuko blurted out, more loudly than he had intended, "Do you want to dance with me?!"

"Are you asking me?" the earthbender replied cheekily. "I'm flattered, but angsty hotheads aren't really my type. I think Katara, on the other hand, would be happy to dance with you."

Now both of them were blushing. After shooting Toph a glare, Katara stood up and nodded, her face still an attractive shade of pink. Zuko's heart quickened as she slid her hand into his outstretched one. Her skin was soft and cool to the touch.

"_Do you know how to dance?"_ she whispered as he lead her out onto the floor. _"Because I don't."_

Zuko found himself chuckling despite his nervousness. "Yes. The song about to start is an imperial waltz. I learned it when I was approaching courting age… before… you know… I was banished. It's pretty simple, just follow my lead."

At that, he stopped and turned to face her. She stared up at him, a look of complete trust, and maybe something more, in her eyes, and he marveled at the fact that he was lucky enough to be on the receiving end of such a gaze from her. He could still remember a time when all he would receive from her were icy glares.

Feeling hesitant, he stepped closer to her, still holding onto her hand and searching her face for permission as he slowly placed his other hand on her waist. He sucked in a breath as her other hand slid up his chest for a brief moment, coming to rest lightly on his shoulder. He vaguely registered that the music was beginning, and to the light rhythm of the drums, he began to move.

* * *

Dancing with Zuko… was not what Katara had expected. She didn't know exactly what she had anticipated it feeling like, but she hadn't thought that it would be so… well… easy.

He was holding her steadily, so that as he moved, she easily followed his movements. The music just seemed to fit with the soft sway of their bodies. As she adjusted to their personal rhythm, the rest of the people around them seemed to fade into nothing more than blurry figures as she focused her attention on the glow of his mesmerizing amber eyes and the feeling of being held by him.

On an impulse, she pressed closer to him and lightly rested her head against his chest, just above where she knew his heart was. It suddenly occurred to her that she had never felt so close to a person before as she did in that moment. It was almost as if she could feel their hearts beating, not in unison, but in complementary patterns in the tune of the soft music.

She felt his chest rise and fall, and thought she felt him inhale and exhale, breathing softly into her hair. She closed her eyes, feeling as if she could stay like this forever. At that moment, she ignored all of the thoughts in the back of her head that tried to impede her enjoyment. At that moment, she could only think of Zuko, enraptured by his smell, some oddly pleasant combination of tea leaves and ashes, and the warmth that kept her glued to his firm, strong chest.

The rest of the world, however, was apparently not simply focused on the moment, for the slow song ended much too quickly for Katara's liking, and as a faster, more energetic beat signaled the beginning of the next song, Zuko slowly dropped his hands to his sides and stepped back as she did.

"Thanks for that." He said quietly, an almost bashful look on his face. They simply stood there and stared at each other as the rest of the dancers adjusted their movements to the next song. Katara was overcome by a strong urge to kiss him, one she repressed with great difficulty.

He tipped his head to her and began to back away, but she grabbed his hand impulsively.

"Oh no, fire lord, you're not escaping that easily." She said, chuckling at his bewilderment as she pulled him back to her side. "It's my turn to lead."

* * *

Zuko had so much fun dancing with Katara that he almost forgot that he was at an official public event, and had duties to attend to. Unfortunately, he wasn't allowed to forget, as one of his advisors came and tapped him on the shoulder after their fifth song and tersely reminded him that it was time to get ready for his dessert speech, and the impending announcement of his newly appointed officials. He reluctantly followed his advisor off the dance floor, allowing himself just one last glance back at Katara as he retreated. She shrugged her shoulders good-naturedly, but something in her eyes hinted that she just might be cursing his responsibilities nearly as much as he was at that moment.

After a brief chat with a few more of his advisors, he returned to his seat next to his uncle, watching as the dance floor began to clear, the last few stragglers reluctantly heading back to their tables. Iroh just had enough time to shoot him a knowing look of triumph before the honorable General Pho stood up and began his introductory speech. Zuko followed up with a few words of thanks to all who made the celebration possible, and then invited the guests to dig in to their desserts.

He sat down, and noticed that his uncle hadn't even started on his cake, and was still smiling at him, which was never a good sign. He was in for a lengthy teasing session.

"Don't say it." He grumbled, feeling his ears begin to redden.

"You really like her, don't you? Never in my life have I seen you so… _smitten." _Iroh remarked, chuckling.

"I'm not _smitten."_ Zuko hissed indignantly, tasting the lie on his tongue as he said it. He stared over at Katara, and was surprised to see that she was looking over at him too. He held her gaze for a heartbeat before tearing his eyes away, not wanting to add fuel to his uncle's already well-kindled fire.

He looked back at his uncle to see that his eyes were sparkling with humor.

_I am so doomed._ He thought, sighing.

* * *

The rest of the evening seemed to fly by. As soon as Zuko had announced his new appointees, the dessert eating commenced, and the guests, full and happy, began to filter out of the banquet hall slowly but surely. Zuko himself stood at the doors, exchanging parting words with guests as they left.

Katara herself spent the rest of the night helping Suki drag her heavily intoxicated and overfed brother to his room. When she had finished helping with that, she said her goodnights to the rest of the group, and began to head towards her room.

Struck by a sudden curiosity, instead of entering her room, she stopped at the doorway and backtracked, retracing her steps to the banquet hall. Somehow she had a suspicion that she already knew what she would find there, but she wanted to be sure.

It was already past midnight, but when she walked into the banque hall, she found that it was still full of activity. Servants and maids ran this way and that, picking up discarded trash and moving tables and chairs. And in the center of this whirlwind of movement was Zuko.

He was bent over a table, sleeves rolled up, scrubbing it thoroughly. Katara found her heart warming at the sight. As she approached, she heard him carrying on a conversation with one of the workers.

"Xaio Fe, you must rest. You have been working non-stop for the past several days. You need to take a break. You have already done more than enough." He was saying to the bewildered looking servant.

"Your Magesty…" he replied hesitantly, "Is that an order?"

"It's a request." Zuko answered simply.

As the worker nodded slowly and bowed, retreating, Zuko returned to his task. His back was turned to Katara as she walked towards him, so he didn't see her coming, and she was given time to observe him. She smiled when she saw that a few stray hairs had fallen loose from his topknot, and his ceremonial garments were slightly askew. A few beads of sweat had collected on the back of his neck, but he worked with as much vigor as ever.

Not knowing how else to announce her presence, she said "Hey."

She watched in amusement as Zuko's head jolted up in surprise, and he quickly spun around, looking as if he were about to drop into a fighting stance, until he registered her presence and relax. Katara couldn't keep herself from giggling in response to his shocked reaction.

"Oh how the tables have turned…" She said, grinning up at him.

"Hey, not fair, I was distracted!" he replied good-naturedly. Then the light of humor in his eyes turned to concern. "Wait, it's pretty late, shouldn't you be resting?"

"Shouldn't you?" she countered.

He shrugged in response. "Here's an idea," she remarked, stepping up and taking his rag from him, "If I help you with your work, it'll be done sooner, and we will both have a chance to go to sleep earlier than we would."

For a moment, Zuko looked as if he might protest, but then his shoulders slumped in defeat, and he conceded.

"Fine. Let's get to work then."

* * *

After about another hour of clean-up, Zuko and Katara finally called it quits after they had seen the last table removed from the hall, and the last bit of filth cleaned from the floor. They walked down the hallway towards the wing that held their rooms in companionable silence. Zuko himself was reflecting upon the night, his mind mainly focused on the highlights: holding Katara as they had danced, laughing as Katara jokingly criticized his scrubbing technique, the way that her hair had fallen in front of her face, and the look of concentration on her face as she worked, which he found oddly attractive.

When they reached the door that he knew led to Katara's chamber, Zuko felt a strange ache in his chest. She turned to face him, leaning lightly against the door's surface and looking up at him with a shy smile, twisting her hair around her finder in a gesture that he had come to recognize as a nervous habit. Seeing the normally headstrong and confident waterbender acting like this in his presence stirred some unprecedented sensations inside Zuko that he couldn't quite understand. All he knew was that he desperately yearned to kiss her again, to bury his hand in her hair, to—

"Zuko?" his train of thought was interrupted by the waterbender herself, who was looking up at him and fidgeting in place.

"Yeah?" he answered, fully conscious of how close they were standing.

"Would you…" she began hesitantly, "…like to spend the day with me tomorrow?"

Surprised by this request, Zuko found his mouth falling open as he paused to process her question.

"I know, it was a stupid question, " she continued hurriedly, "you're probably really busy, I mean, you're the fire lord, what was I thinking… I just wanted to—"

"Katara!" he cut in, and she quickly ceased her babbling. Laughing, his heart filled with warmth for his friend, he replied, "I would love to."

"Really?" she asked, her eyes wide, glowing in the darkness of the hall.

"Absolutely." He said, feeling himself smiling wider than he had in what felt like years. He suddenly realized that he had been doing that so much more than usual lately that he couldn't help himself from blurting out his next question.

"Can I kiss you?"

At that, Katara didn't hesitate for a minute. His heart pounding, he caught one last look at her beautiful eyes before she reached up to his neck and pulled his face down to hers, and their lips collided. They pressed against each other with more urgency than they had before, and as his hand slid into her hair and he cradled her face in his hands, guiding her lips to press harder, he felt an exhilarating feeling that had before been foreign to him. He subconsciously felt himself backing her up against the surface of the door, and as he gently anchored her there, he felt her fingers slide into his own hair, grasping at the tendrils at the base of his neck in a way that drove him crazy.

When they broke apart, they were both breathing heavily, and when he searched her eyes, he found that they had darkened, and her chest was heaving. He could barely process the fact that kissing him had had this effect on her before she rose on her toes and gave him one last long, lingering kiss, this one chaste, soothing as if it were an attempt to heal and calm.

At that, she whispered, "See you tomorrow." And turned around without another word and entered her room, closing the door softly behind her.

Zuko stood in a sort of dumbstruck haze outside her door for a moment, before snapping out of it and departing, his heart dancing in circles inside his chest, the ache in his chest roaring for more. He nearly skipped all the way to his own room. He just couldn't help himself. He fell into bed and found himself drifting to sleep, replaying his goodnight with Katara in his mind countless times, and leaving the waking world with a contented smile on his face for the first time in a very long time.

_**Salutations, Readers!**_

_**Sorry that this chapter is shorter than the rest of them have been. I promise that there is some major angst coming, so prepare yourselves!**_

_**I have been really enjoying writing this, and I hope to make the updates more regular, but I can't make any promises, as I'm pretty busy at the moment.**_

_**Thanks for sticking with me, and stay tuned!**_


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter IX: Ecstasy and Inevitability **

Katara woke up earlier than she normally would. A split second after opening her eyes, she remembered the events of the previous night, and felt a giddy smile spread across her face at the prospect of spending the day with Zuko. With no desire to stay in bed any longer, she hurried through her morning routine, dressing and heading to the dining hall.

When she arrived, she found it empty but for one lone figure at the table. It took her a moment to register that it was Zuko, for he wore a long black cloak with a hood that nearly covered his face entirely. But when he lowered his hood and smiled in a way that she had only seen him smile during the past week, there was no mistaking him.

He stood up and walked over to her. "Good morning," she said in greeting, unable to keep from smiling herself, "What's with the outfit?"

He scratched the back of his head. "I thought… You know, if you wanted to—we could go downtown—to the capitol, I mean."

At the prospect of roaming the streets with the fire lord himself, in disguise for that matter, Katara nearly laughed, at both the hilarity and the excitement of the situation. Struck with a sudden thought, she said, "But won't I stick out like a sore thumb?" looking down at her obviously water tribe garb in trepidation.

"Well, that's why I sent for some fire nation clothes for you…" he said, shuffling his feet, "I hope you don't mind that I—"

"Thank you." Katara breathed, her heart swelling with the strength of her feelings for the young man. She was blown away by how thoughtful the gesture was, and incredibly flattered that he had spent time thinking about and planning their day together. She longed to kiss him again, but instead, she took his hand and squeezed it.

"So…" She began, smiling, "I suppose I'd better get dressed."

* * *

Zuko definitely liked Katara in red.

When she had first walked back into the dining room wearing her new fire nation clothes, he had had to suppress the urge to gawk. She looked magnificent. She had chosen a simple red cropped shirt and long skirt that hugged the curves of her body very nicely, and Zuko had to stop himself from staring too much at the exposed patch of her abdomen. The rich red of the garment complemented her caramel skin tone quite nicely, and the contrast made her eyes stand out even more, blue orbs in a sea of red. She had kept her mother's necklace on, but Zuko wasn't complaining, because she would have seemed incomplete without it anyway.

Now, Zuko was still struggling to maintain his composure when he looked at her as they walked together down the side streets of the capitol. So far, they hadn't received any strange looks. So the disguises seemed to be working. In spite of this, he felt a strong urge to remove the heavy cloak, as it was sweltering in the fire nation heat.

Looking to his side to see Katara looking back at him, smiling, Zuko didn't mind his discomfort in the slightest. The simple fact that he had the entire day to spend with her was making his heart soar.

When they had reached main street, Zuko looked over to see Katara staring down the wide street with a look of wonder on her face. He laughed at her reaction.

"Yeah, there are a lot of them, aren't there?" he remarked, gesturing towards the countless tables and tents set up by vendors in the street, selling clothing, food, and various merchandise.

"Man, if Sokka were here… I can't imagine all of the money he would waste." Katara commented as they passed a tent with ornamental weaponry on display. At the mention of Katara's brother, Zuko wondered what was going on back at the palace. He and Katara had left a note saying that they had went into town to take care of some errands, and would probably be gone all day. Although he didn't care what the others thought about the two of them spending time alone together, he was secretly grateful that they had agreed upon using such an excuse. He didn't even know what they were at the moment, and he was too nervous to ask Katara what she felt.

Looking over at his companion again, he decided that, for today, he would allow himself to let go of his confusing feelings and just enjoy himself.

* * *

Exploring the streets of the fire nation capitol, her hand tightly grasped in Zuko's, had been an incredible experience. She couldn't explain why, but just being with him like this, in a place where not a soul knew their story, made her feel giddy. They had spent a few hours walking from tent to tent, content to amuse themselves by examining the various goods being marketed.

Now, however, they had had their fill of shopping, and Katara's legs were beginning to ache as the walked away from main street, heading towards the outskirts of the city. The streets were gradually becoming less crowded, and Katara was grateful for the quiet, despite her enjoyment of the hustle and bustle of the marketplace.

She reached up and touched the beautiful panda lily hair pin that Zuko had insisted on buying for her and smiled to herself, unable to contain how happy she felt. She looked at her companion, and he gave her a small, soft smile that warmed her heart more than any gift he could give her. She reflected on the day, recalling her favorite moments, including the time that they had stumbled upon a shaved ice stand, and excitement had lit up Zuko's face as he had explained to her how his mother used to bring him and Azula to buy shaved ice on particularly hot summer days, and how he had always gotten the blueberry flavor. Then, she had giggled for the next half hour, until the blue tint on his mouth had disappeared.

As if sensing that she was tired, Zuko tightened his grip on her hand and led her towards a small grove of trees. "We can rest in here." He said as they pushed through the thick tree covering. Moments later, the trees dispersed, and they found themselves in a small clearing with a lagoon of some sort in the center, with a small waterfall feeding into it.

Grateful for the presence of her element, Katara plopped down on the grass on the edge of the pool, removing her shoes and dipping her feet in. More hesitantly, Zuko removed his own boots and joined her. Sitting in peaceful silence and gazing at the reflection of their two figures in the water, Katara allowed herself to wonder whether the possibility of doing this again would ever arise for them. She couldn't help but suspect the answer was no. instead of dwelling on her bittersweet thoughts, she looked over at Zuko, and with a sly smile, decided that it was time for her to have some fun.

Without a second thought, she leapt into the water while simultaneously creating a large wave of water and crashing it into Zuko, watching in amusement as his face contorted in surprise. The force of the wave was just enough to knock him into the pool with her, and when he surfaced, his hair dripping wet and plastered across his face, covering his eyes, Katara couldn't suppress her giggling.

Flipping his hair out of his face in one swift motion, he shot her a glare painted with amusement. "You insufferable little—" he sputtered, "You'll pay for that!"

"Forgive me," she chirped, "How dare I disrespect you, Your Majesty."

He lunged for her, splashing a spray of droplets in her face. She looked at him incredulously. "You really want to start a splash battle with a master waterbender?" she asked jokingly, "It's your funeral."

"Oh it's on." He replied in mock challenge, returning her devilish smirk in a way that Katara found both alluring and infuriating. Without a word, he began to peel off layers of clothes, removing his waterlogged cloak and shirt. Katara removed her skirt and shirt as well, and, clad in only her wrappings, began a furious splash battle.

Several minutes later, their chests heaving, they stood waist-deep in the water, leaning against the edge of the pool, too tired to continue their battle. "Let's call it a draw." Zuko sighed.

"No way," she replied cheekily, "You just don't want to admit that I won."

"You are infuriating." He remarked, staring at her with darkening eyes.

"What are you going to do about it?" she countered, shooting him a look of challenge.

After contemplating her for a split second, he rasped, "This," and proceeded to lean down, capturing her lips in his. Katara was taken aback for only a moment before she responded eagerly, rising up into him like a tidal wave. Something about pressing her wet body against his, surrounded by her element, made Katara feel incredibly drawn towards him, desiring him even more than she thought possible. As the kiss deepened, becoming more urgent, she slid her hand up his firm, wet chest. When her hand naturally came to rest on a rough patch of marred skin at the center of his chest, she realized what she was touching and pulled back slightly, opening her eyes. When they opened, she was looking into Zuko's, and the golden orbs had widened. They both looked down at where her hand now rested, on the star shaped scar that brought up distant memories of pain and sacrifice. When she lifted her head, she saw that Zuko's eyes weren't filled with pain and regret, as hers were, but only filled with tenderness, a softness that nearly melted her on the spot.

"Zuko…" she began.

"Don't." he said softly. "This is a scar that I'm proud to bear."

Her heart swelling, she whispered, "Why?"

"Because every day it reminds me what I'm fighting for." He replied simply, his eyes glowing, their amber color sticking out against their cool surroundings, blazing with a fiery mass of emotion, emotion she wasn't sure she was prepared to accept the weight of.

So instead, she acted on instinct, and dropped her head to his chest, lightly pressing her lips to the mark that had been branded there, the mark that represented the sacrifice he had made for her. As her lips made contact with the scar, she felt his sharp intake of breath, and looked up to see that his eyes had closed and his face had relaxed. She was struck by a sudden realization that Zuko wasn't accustomed to being touched. After all, his family hadn't been the most close-knit, and now he spent his days in the palace, surrounded by only his advisors, tending to his duties as fire lord. She felt a powerful ache in her chest for him, because she understood. No matter how much she loved her family and her tribe, for the past few years, she had felt more alone than ever, even when she had been living in the place she had grown up. She hadn't been able to place this feeling before, but now, looking up into Zuko's eyes, she saw her own pain haunting his gaze, like a ghost that continued to nag until it completely consumed you.

"Zuko," she asked on a sudden impulse, "What happened between you and Mai?"

Recovering quickly from his initial shock at the question, Zuko scratched the back of his head, propping his arm up on the edge of the bank. "We grew apart." He said. "After the war ended, and the stakes were lowered, we tried to settle into our lives as an ordinary couple. But that only worked until we realized that we weren't an ordinary couple. Mai had grown tired of dealing with fire nation politics, after being raised among the nobility, and she realized that that wasn't what she wanted from her life. She would have hated being fire lady."

"You proposed?" Katara asked incredulously, her heartbeat quickening.

"No," he replied, and Katara felt a strange sort of relief wash over her. "But I eventually would have, and she knew that. So she ended things between us, and left for Kyoshi."

A brief silence fell over them for a moment before he began to speak again. "I'm glad that it happened, though. At the time, I wasn't happy, but looking back, I can see that the pressure from my advisors would have driven me into a loveless marriage. I thought that we could have been happy together, but now I see…"

At that he drifted off, giving her a long, contemplative look. "See what?" she couldn't help inquiring, "What's changed now?"

"Now I know what it really feels like, being with someone who truly makes you happy." He replied, and Katara felt her breath hitch in her throat as his eyes bored into hers, and she registered what he had just said. She was overwhelmed by the realization that she made him happy, and her heart was filled with an unparalleled warmth as she reveled in the fact that her happiness in his company was reciprocated fully by him. In that moment, she felt that all she needed to be content, for the rest of her life, was to see Zuko happy, and look into his eyes to feel the special gaze that he reserved just for her.

Unable to express what she was feeling with words, she did what her heart was begging her to do. She leaned up and kissed him again.

* * *

After Katara had removed the water from their clothes, they had put them back on and headed back towards the streets of the capitol. The sun was sinking slowly in the sky, and, while it was still light out, Zuko could sense night's approach. With it, he could also sense the end of their blissful day together ending. They walked hand in hand, as they had all day, and Zuko didn't think he'd ever tire of the way that her palm seemed to fit perfectly against his.

They were on the outskirts of the city now, and the masts poking out from behind the buildings told him that they were approaching the docks. When they turned the corner and came in view of the pier, he heard Katara's breath catch in her throat as she caught sight of the sky, currently turning from blue to orange, as the sun made its descent towards the horizon.

"It's beautiful." She breathed.

"Yeah." He agreed, but he was busy drinking her in. Bathed in the warm light of the commencing day, Katara looked radiant, the light hitting her cheekbones in just the right way as she turned her face towards the horizon. More than anything, she looked like she belonged here, as strange a notion as that was, considering her background. She seemed one with the atmosphere, and the tranquility it exuded. Looking at her now, Zuko dreaded returning to the palace more than ever. He wished that they could stay here forever, wandering the streets together to their hearts' content. But he knew how unrealistic that dream was.

Suddenly, apparently spotting something in the distance, Katara squinted and said, "Wait, is that…"

Without another word, she took off at a run towards one of the ships. Calling her name in bewilderment and running after her, Zuko followed her as she ran down the pier, finally coming to a stop in front of one of the ships. At first, Zuko was confused by her alarm, as it looked like any other trading ship, but then he saw that it bore a water tribe flag upon its mast.

"Katara?" a voice sounded from behind them.

They turned around to see none other than Katara's father standing behind them, carrying a carton of supplies in his arms, which he promptly dropped in order to accept his daughter's embrace.

Zuko bowed his head respectfully to him. "Chief Hakoda, welcome to the fire nation."

"What are you doing here?" Katara asked him, breathless.

"Well, I received your brother's messenger hawk detailing your victory against the rebels a week ago, and I had expected you two to be on your way home by now." Hakoda explained, raising his eyebrows as he took in Katara's fire nation disguise, "But it seems you have grown comfortable here."

"Dad, I—" Katara began hesitantly.

"Say no more." He interrupted, "I came because I figured you would be eager to be getting home, and thought that maybe I could spare Aang the trouble of carting you back on Appa. Also, you could say I came for diplomatic reasons, to ensure that the fire lord has things under control, and that no modifications to the trading pattern will be needed."

"None, sir." Zuko cut in quickly, "Your concern is greatly appreciated though."

Hakoda nodded. "So I assume the rest of the group is somewhere nearby?" he inquired conversationally, "I'm glad you all seem to be taking a break from saving the world to have some fun for once."

"Umm, actually, no." Katara replied, her face reddening. "It's just Zuko and I. We were… taking a day to catch up. The rest of the group is back at the palace."

"I see." Hakoda replied, his eyes narrowing as he once again trained them on Zuko, who felt more than a bit uncomfortable under the older man's scrutiny.

"Well!" he said hurriedly, his voice sounding unnaturally high due to his nerves, "I suppose we had better escort you and your crew up to the palace before it grows too dark to make the journey. Shall we?"

Hakoda nodded. "First I've got to take care of some things on board." He offered his arm to his daughter, and as Zuko watched her walk onto the ship with her father, he felt a pang in his chest, realizing that he had already lost her.

* * *

Katara was pacing the guest room she had occupied for the past week, lost in thought. The bag that she still had to pack lay empty on the bed. It was a small bag, as, in her hurry to leave the southern water tribe, she hadn't had time to pack much. So why was it taking her so long to pack?

Her brain felt muddled, but she supposed that could be due to a lack of sleep. She had been unable to quiet her mind last night to get a decent amount of rest. She had been continually reliving the events of the previous day in her mind, experiencing the joy of spending time with Zuko and the crushing disappointment of her father's appearance over and over again inside her head. It wasn't that she was unhappy to see her father, but his presence reminded her of the life she had waiting for back at the south pole, and how it couldn't possibly bring her half as much happiness as spending one simple day with Zuko had.

When they had returned to the palace the previous night, Sokka had obviously been overjoyed to see his father, eagerly filling him in on all the details of the fight with the rebel forces. In truth, Katara had found it a bit irritating, the constant attention on her father. Even Zuko was spending more time with him than with her as they spoke about diplomatic issues and such over drinks. She was frusterated. _She _wanted to speak with Zuko. After all, she only had a small window of time left to spend with him before she would have to leave.

Her heart sunk in her chest at the thought of leaving. Zuko had been distant with her since her father had shown up, and she longed to feel that closeness they had shared with one another, that had just begun to develop. She craved it. She _needed_ it.

But she knew, in her heart, that she couldn't have it. She was leaving. As her father had reminded her last night, she had a duty to her tribe, to continue training her waterbending pupils, which would in turn strengthen her tribe. He had even hinted that he might have a few potential matches set up for her when she returned with eligible tribesmen. So that was that. She was going. It was an undisputed fact, or at least, it seemed that her father viewed it that way.

But she couldn't stop herself from longing to stay. It wasn't that she didn't miss her home, because she did. But it was the thought of leaving Zuko that tore her heart in two. She imagined him cooped up in his room, alone and filling out paper work, and felt a heavy sadness wash over her. For both their sakes. But she had to leave. She couldn't allow herself to dwell on her wild fantasies, because, realistically, they were just that. Fantasy. There was no way she could ever have a future with Zuko. Who was she kidding? He was the fire lord, and she was from the southern water tribe. They were from two different worlds. Logically, she could see why anything between them was nonsensical.

However, she couldn't help dwelling on what it had felt like to kiss him, to touch him, to simply spend time with him alone. She wanted more, but she knew that she could never have more. She couldn't bear to part with him, but thinking about him was too painful.

So, instead of seeking him out, like she longed to do, she packed up her things in silence.

* * *

Zuko felt like punching a wall.

Unfortunately, he wasn't standing near any walls as he stood at the end of the pier, watching as the ship carrying Katara away from him slowly diminished, its shape gradually becoming hazy under the cover of the morning fog. He was alone; the rest of the party that had come to the docks to see the group off had left after he had assured them that he wanted to be alone at the moment, and that he was perfectly capable of finding his way back to the palace on his own. He certainly wasn't eager to return to its nearly empty halls.

Aang, Mai, Ty Lee, and Toph had departed on Appa that day as well. While he would miss them, Zuko couldn't keep himself from fixating on the loss that stung the most. Katara. He had hardly been able to meet her eyes as he had hugged her goodbye, for he feared that if he looked into those beautiful orbs once again, he would be at her mercy, pleading her to stay with him. And he knew that it would have been unfair of him to do so. Katara had a life to return to in the south, and he had no business asking her to remain in the fire nation simply because he couldn't cope with her departure.

_Besides,_ he tried to rationalize to himself, _You'll be seeing her in three months anyway. For Sokka and Suki's wedding. That isn't so long of a time, is it?_ But he knew in his heart that any attempt to reason with himself would be futile. She was gone, and no promises of future meetings would change the fact that her departure represented the impossibility of ever being with her in the future. He had been so foolish, allowing himself to become caught up with her before he could register that they would never truly be together. Her father's appearance had shown him how absurd his fantasies were.

Nevertheless, the fantasies still plagued his thoughts. The tantalizing taste of what it would be like to be with Katara was haunting him, making his dreams more vivid and far-fetched. He had even begun to entertain visions of Katara as fire lady, helping him to sign treaties and make policy decisions. He thought that she would be amazing at it, probably much better at diplomacy and leadership than he was, that was for sure.

But he would never find out. Katara didn't belong with him. She belonged with her people, no matter how much Zuko longed for her. Her decision to leave with her father had solidified the fact that she felt that her true home was in the southern water tribe, not with him.

_I'm going to be alone forever._

The realization had hit him hard in the gut as he had watched her board the ship, shooting him one last, sad smile over her shoulder at him before turning away and facing the horizon, her shoulders set in determination.

He knew for sure that such a realization must be true, for he knew that the feelings he had developed for Katara were unparalleled. He had never experienced such feelings, and he was sure that no feelings would ever compare to the feelings that she had inspired in him.

Sparing one final glance at the horizon, he forced himself to turn around and begin the trek back to the palace, tears stinging his eyes.

_This was inevitable. _He told himself.

_You must accept it._

**_Greetings, readers!_**

**_Thanks for sticking with me, and for writing reviews. Hearing what you have to say is wonderful, and it really helps feed my enthusiasm for this story._**

**_I hope you've enjoyed this chapter despite the sad bits. _**

**_Stay tuned._**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter X: New Belonging**

"With all due respect, Your Majesty, it's time."

As Zuko faced Captain Tsao, one of his newly-appointed advisors, he felt a wave of bitterness and resignation wash over him. In truth, he always felt an inherent sense of self-loathing during these advising meetings, because they reminded him of his father, and the way that he had always seemed so_… __friendless_ at meetings like this. He knew that he wasn't his father, but lately he had begun to believe that he would end up like him in the end. Alone.

Apparently, however, his advisors wanted to make sure that didn't happen.

"Think about it," General Ba Tsong urged him, "One of the reasons that a seed of doubt was able to be placed in the rebels' minds was because you have yet to choose a wife and produce an heir, which is rare at this stage of your reign. By heeding our advice, perhaps you could affirm your ability to reign proficiently in the eyes of the populace."

_If entering a loveless, arranged marriage is my only way of redeeming myself to the people, then maybe I don't want that kind of redemption…_ Zuko couldn't help thinking wryly.

Instead, he replied, "Fine. I will think about it. Meeting dismissed."

As the councilmen slowly dispersed, Zuko pivoted on his heel to return to his office, but was halted by the sound of someone clearing their throat behind him.

"What was that?"

Zuko turned to face his Uncle Iroh, not at all surprised to see him

"What?"

"You'll think about it? What's there to think about?"

Zuko sighed. "Uncle, I don't want to talk about this right now."

A fire blazed in Iroh's eyes. "Right now? Right now? When would be a good time for you, Nephew? How long are you going to keep putting this off?"

"As long as it takes to get you off my case." Zuko started to walk past his uncle towards the door, but the old man grabbed his shoulder, halting him in his tracks.

"You must go to her. You must go to Katara."

At the sound of her name, Zuko felt every muscle in his body tense up. He hadn't heard that name uttered aloud for many months, apart from in his dreams.

"No. What I must do is stay here, and run my kingdom, and let her continue living her life. She's with her family. She is where she belongs." He knew that what he said was true, but he hated the coldness that reigned in his voice as he said it.

"And how do you know where she belongs?" Iroh shouted, shaking his shoulders violently. "You can't keep stalling—it's time for you to make your choice; and then give her a chance to make hers."

"What kind of choice?" Zuko demanded, his head ready to implode. "What should I do?" he asked more meekly, in a pleading, defeated tone. Suddenly he felt like the newly banished thirteen year old he once was, reliant on his uncle for guidance.

"That is completely up to you."

Zuko watched his uncle exit the room, his resolve retreating with each of the old man's steps. He wanted her. And no one else. But what could he do about it?

* * *

_Dear Zuko,_

Katara paused, looking up from her writing. After a moment's thought, she scratched the two words out.

_Zuko,_

Again, she hesitated. Where could she begin? What would she say to him, if he were here? She didn't know_. He's not here_. She told herself. _This is useless._

She wanted him. The past few months had been torture. She thought about him constantly, but that wasn't enough. She craved his warmth, his light, the way they fit together.

It was cold in the Southern Water Tribe. Never before had she been bothered by the temperature, of course. She'd grown up there, for Agni's sake. But more and more lately, she felt the sting of the sleet in the air, the hardness of the icy floors beneath her feet. Perhaps it was just a contrast she noticed due to her recent extended stay in the Fire Nation. Or perhaps it was because he wasn't there.

Life had returned to normal, for the most part. At the moment, the whole tribe was bustling with activity due to Sokka and Suki's impending wedding. The ceremony was set to take place in four days, and many preparations were in order. As maid of honor, she had many duties to fulfill.

She had been flattered when Suki had asked her, but she hadn't really been aware of what the position would entail. She was asked her opinion on everything, from ice sculptures to gowns, and was forced to spend a lot of time with the happy couple. She loved them, and was happy for them, but seeing them together only increased her longing for a certain firebender.

A part of her wanted to get the wedding over with and go back to her life, but another part of her was glad for the distraction that all of the preparations provided. When the wedding ended, she had to return to her normal life, and she couldn't remember exactly how she had lived her life before recent events had occurred. She was scared. Scared that she would be alone forever, that she would never see him again, that she would be stuck in stand still for the rest of her life.

She knew, deep in her heart, that she didn't belong here. But where else could she belong, if not here? If not at her home, where? Whenever she pondered such questions, she felt empty.

_Just put it out of your head and focus on the wedding…_

She sighed and crumpled her parchment, disposing of it quickly when she heard a knock on her door. It opened to reveal Suki, in a panic. "Have you seen the parcel with my wedding clothes? I thought I left it—"

The kyoshi warrior paused when she caught a glimpse of Katara's face. "What's up? Are you okay? You look like Sokka when he has to skip a meal."

Katara chuckled, filled with warmth for her friend. Only someone as genuinely selfless as Suki could stop worrying about her problems in a time of anxiety and focus on another person.

"It's nothing."

"No." Suki put on her hardened warrior face and plopped down on the bench beside her. "Something's up with you. Something's been up since we returned. At first I thought you were just adjusting to being back, but it's been months, Katara, and you still have the same look on your face."

"What look?" Katara asked dully, trying to force out a flippant smile.

"That one. The lost one."

Katara sighed, looking into her friend's kind gray eyes, glistening with concern. She slumped her shoulders in defeat, letting her posture unravel as if the string holding her upright had snapped.

"Suki, can I ask you a question?"

"Fire away."

Katara banished the associations her wandering brain made with such a phrase and cleared her throat.

"How do you cope with having to leave Kyoshi and start a new life here in the Southern Water Tribe?"

Suki looked surprised by the question. She cocked her head. "You mean—"

"I mean, how do you know where you belong?" she finished breathlessly, her heart pounding wildly as she awaited her response.

Suki took a deep breath and began. "You know, Kyoshi was always the place I considered home. But that changed."

"How?"

"Well, after meeting your brother, and falling in love with him, I couldn't shake this feeling, whenever I was in Kyoshi, that I didn't belong. And I think that's because I had changed, as a result of loving Sokka. I had learned that home isn't any one place. I belonged with Sokka. Together, we create a sort of new belonging." She glanced sideways at Katara. "Does that make sense?"

Katara was so lost in her own musings that she could hardly bring herself to nod, let alone offer a response. Suki stood up. "You know, I think I remember now—I sent them to the maids for cleaning."

"What?" Katara asked dumbly.

"The wedding clothes, remember?"

"Oh yeah. Right." In truth, all she could think about at the moment was a distinctive pair of amber eyes.

Suki headed for the door. "Okay, well I'd better get going. See you at dinner?"

Katara nodded. Just as her friend was nearly out the door, she called after her, "Suki?"

"Mhm?"

"Thanks."

* * *

Once again, Zuko found himself stuck in an airship, travelling to the Southern Water Tribe. This time, however, the circumstances were very different. For starters, the ship was stocked with soldiers and advisors he knew very well. Since they had crushed the rebel forces, he had become understandably more selective in choosing his officials.

Additionally, this was no military mission—this trip was social. Sokka and Suki's wedding. Somehow, amid all that had happened, the event had nearly slipped his mind, until his Uncle had reminded him by dragging him out shopping for a wedding gift.

Strangely enough, though, he felt more trepidation regarding his destination than he had months ago, even though there were no battles to be won. Well, no military battles, at least.

The anticipation of seeing Katara was driving him mad. He longed to see her, to just be in her presence, but he had no idea what would happen when he did. The status of their relationship was ambiguous. He hated living in such uncertainty. He wanted to set things straight. And he knew how he was going to do that.

He fingered a leather pouch that hung around his neck, pressed against his heart. It contained the source of both his fear and his excitement.

"Zuko?" a voice pulled him from his thoughts.

"Yes, General?"

"It looks like we are about to land."

* * *

Katara knew Zuko was set to arrive that morning, but she had avoided joining the welcoming party, using her maid of honor duties as an excuse not to face her fears. She wanted to see him so badly, but she didn't fancy being in his presence and having to pretend that they were just friends. Even if his feelings had changed, hers hadn't. She couldn't bear to face him like this.

She folded up the last of the cloth napkins and placed it inside her basket of linens. It was huge, and she could barely lift it, let alone see in front of her as she carried it. Nonetheless, she headed out the door of her room, heaving it.

She had only managed to make it a few steps down the passageway when mishap ensued. All of a sudden, as she started to turn the first corner, she collided with something solid. The basket toppled from her arms, and its contents dumped everywhere, scattered about the icy floor.

But Katara didn't notice any of that occurring. All she saw was Zuko, in all his firelord regalia, stumbling backward, tripping over his cloak, and landing on the floor himself.

Her heart dropped. She sank to her knees in shock. "Z-Zuko?"

He looked up at her, frantically trying to adjust his now askew headpiece. "Hi."

Her face heated up furiously. Not knowing what else to do, she hurriedly began collecting the linens, shoving them hastily back into the basket. "I'm so sorry, I just didn't see you coming, and I—"

Suddenly, a hand gently caught her chin, silencing her. As she looked into his eyes, so close, so familiar, so achingly beautiful, she became aware that her own were full of tears. Tears of shock, relief, anxiety—whatever they were, he gently brushed them aside with his thumbs, allowing them to linger on her cheeks for a brief moment.

Immediately, she dropped what she was holding and crumpled into him, letting out one wracked sob.

"Katara…" he sighed her name, wrapping his arms tightly around her, so tightly that she felt the rise and fall of his chest.

She had no idea where they were going from here. All she knew was that he was here.

* * *

The last thing Zuko wanted to do was attend a bachelor party. But, Sokka being Sokka, he should have expected that there would be one.

It had been a couple of days since his arrival, and the Southern Water Tribe was in an uproar. Everyone was busy getting ready for what apparently was slated to be the wedding of the century. As a result, Zuko hadn't gotten a chance to steal any moments alone with Katara since their haphazard meeting. She had been incredibly busy with preparations, and he had only gotten to see her at meals. The unresolved tension between them was still tangible.

He wished he could talk to her. She seemed so far away. Aside from a few long looks shot from across rooms, he had barely interacted with her at all. He savored how it had felt to hold her in his arms once more. He just wanted to hold her every moment of every day.

But now, here he was, the night before the ceremony, sitting around a campfire with a large group of men, passing around a tankard of whiskey. Some of them, including Sokka, had already had far too much. Even he was starting to feel a bit lightheaded. Regardless, when the tankard came his way, he took another swig. Agni, he missed her.

"Ahh…" Sokka sighed, reclining with his arms crossed behind his head, "It's so nice that it's just us guys… No more fabric swatches or ice sculptures to deal with."

"Or women!" Aang piped up, grinning stupidly at his friend. "Starting to have second thoughts, Snoozles?"

"Nope!" Sokka chirped, taking another sip. "Just because you'll be a perpetual bachelor, doesn't mean that's the life for everyone else!"

Aang's face visibly darkened. "You say that like I chose it."

An uncomfortable silence fell over the group. Sokka tried to casually recover by hurriedly listing the great things about being single: "You can do what you want, when you want, you can date multiple girls, you can go hunting whenever—except you don't hunt, so—"

"Sokka, just stop." Aang pleaded, a hint of desperation in his voice.

The airbender looked so distraught that Zuko felt for him. But he also knew that Aang had hurt Katara, too, so he was conflicted. He was broken from his musings by Sokka.

"Zuko! Tell Aang about all of the great things about being single!"

Momentarily stumped, his brain activity fuddled by the liquor, Zuko began, "Uhh…"

Aang looked at him expectantly, almost hopefully.

"Honestly, I don't think I'm the best person to ask about this." He sighed.

"Why?" Sokka probed, "You've been single for almost a year, and have been doing great! Running your nation, defeating rebels, and maintaining good friendships at the same time! I mean, you even found time during your busy times to send Katara letters! You are great at living the single life!"

Another awkward silence fell. Zuko's face was burning; he was glad for the firelight's yellow tint to disguise his facial hue.

"Zuko, you've been writing to Katara? Since when?"

Aang's question hit him like a ton of bricks. Someone cleared their throat. Zuko shifted in his seat uncomfortably, aware that he was under everyone's scrutiny at the moment. He sensed Hakoda, who was sitting at his right, tensing up.

"Uhh… well, off and on, really, since we all parted ways after defeating my father."

"Really?" Sokka cut in hesitantly, "but it seemed like you sent a lot of letters, from what I found in Katara's room…"

Part of Zuko wanted to snap at Sokka for snooping, but most of him wanted to burrow under the sand like a mole crab and hide there forever.

Instead, he tried to save face. "Well, Katara was helping me through some issues. You see, she's such a natural leader; I have found her guidance incredibly helpful in adapting to my new duties. Our correspondence was mainly concerned with that."

"So, strictly business, then?" came Hakoda's quiet question from his right.

"Yeah."

Another pause ensued. After a while, Zuko couldn't take it. He stood up. "I'm going to take a walk," he announced, turning on his heel and heading briskly away from the group.

He thought he had been walking pretty fast, but somehow someone caught up to him after he'd gone about a quarter of a mile. He heard footfalls on the ice behind him, and turned around to see none other than Hakoda approaching. Feeling a nervous lump in his gut, he stopped to wait for Katara's father.

When Hakoda reached him, they exchanged respectful nods and fell into step together. After a brief period of silence, Hakoda spoke.

"Now, Fire Lord, I think it's time for you to tell me what your intentions are with my daughter."

"What?!" he spluttered, unable to respond coherently.

"Don't insult my intelligence." The chief replied, his voice icily calm. "I'm not as obtuse as my son."

"When did you—"

"When I saw the two of you together in the Fire Nation, I knew something must be going on. And then, since we returned, Katara has been acting strangely."

"I—has she been okay?" he asked hurriedly, concern for her welling up.

"I'm not sure." Hakoda's eyes narrowed. He stopped walking. "Tell me what happened between the two of you."

"I—We—" He couldn't finish his sentence. His throat felt as if it were stuffed with cotton. How could he explain this to her father, who obviously wouldn't approve? He couldn't remember ever feeling more nervous than he did at that moment.

"You love her, don't you?"

The question took Zuko by surprise. But it was one he knew how to answer. Swallowing his nerves, he forced himself to meet Hakoda's eyes.

"Yes."

The chief didn't seem surprised at all. He started walking again, his eyes fixed ahead. Matching his pace, Zuko tried to explain, "I didn't mean for this to happen, Chief. It just did, and I don't know what to do. I mean, I know what I want to do. But I don't know what she wants."

Hakoda considered his words for a moment before offering simply, "Well, have you ever thought about just asking her what she wants?"

"I… I'm afraid of the answer." Zuko admitted, looking down at his feet. Suddenly, Hakoda stopped, and placed a firm hand on Zuko's shoulder. Zuko looked up to meet his gaze and saw a glint of something in his blue eyes. Maybe he was imagining things, but it looked almost like affection.

"Zuko, I've never known you to let fear master you. You'll talk to her."

Another silence fell. Listening to the harmony of their footfalls crunching on the icy ground, Zuko tried to sift through his tangled thoughts and impressions. He still could hardly believe that he was having this conversation with Katara's father.

They walked for a few more minutes, and eventually made it to the outskirts of the village. Before making his way in the direction of his home, Hakoda turned to face Zuko once more, his face grave.

"You are a good man, Zuko, and you have my respect. But don't you dare hurt her."

All he could do was nod, his mind still processing the whole conversation. He watched Hakoda begin to walk away. Before he was out of earshot, the chief called out over his shoulder, "Oh, and, before I forget—yes, you have my blessing to marry her."

Zuko's eyes nearly popped out of his head. But Hakoda simply shot him one last, knowing smile, and walked away.

* * *

"Never have I ever made out with the Fire Lord!"

Katara felt the color in her cheeks rising. She glared at Toph. What was she playing at.

Apparently, someone else was peeved at the earthbender's slyness. "Oh, come on. You're just trying to get me plastered, aren't you?" Mai protested in monotone, "Not fair."

Regardless, she took a sip. Toph looked expectantly at Katara. "I hate you." Katara seethed.

"Bottoms up, sweetness." Her friend replied, looking like the cat that got the canary. Already tipsy, and knowing how little she had to lose, she drank. But she instantly cursed herself. _It's just a silly game!_ She scolded herself, _You could have just lied!_

"WHAT?!" Ty lee shrieked, "You kissed Zuko? When?"

"I don't have to say—that's not part of the game." She replied defensively, her cheeks hot.

Oddly enough, Ty Lee seemed to be the only person shocked. She turned to Mai, "How do _you_ feel about this?"

"For the last time, Ty Lee, I have been over Zuko for a while."

"Ohh, but you two were _so_ cute together! I had your baby's names picked out and everything!"

"Oh well, I'm sure the same names will work for the babies Katara eventually has with him." Mai smirked.

The joke only increased Katara's embarrassment. And the ensuing giggles made her skin crawl. "What's so funny?" she huffed.

"Just, the whole concept of you two," Suki chuckled, "Remember when you yelled at him for saving you from those falling rocks back at the Western Air Temple?"

Toph nearly fell out of her seat in laughter, "I bet she wouldn't mind him on top of her now!"

"Toph!" Katara gasped, astonished at the fits of hysterical laughter that had her companions doubled over.

"Hey! It's not funny!"

But none of them would listen to her.

"Sorry to jest, Fire Lady Katara!" Ty Lee piped up.

"Please don't banish us, your grace." Mai contributed, her dull voice containing a touch of humor.

Katara couldn't take it. "Ugh!" she exclaimed, rising to her feet and turning to walk away.

"Off to see your lover?" was the last taunt she heard before retreating out of earshot.

Her face still warm, she headed down to the water's edge. Plopping down on a block of ice, she reached out to the gentle waves, allowing herself to feel them dilate and contract. Almost instantly, she felt a sense of tranquility washing over her.

Just as she was beginning to relish in her solitude, however, a voice interrupted her thoughts.

"Katara?"

Recognizing Aang's voice, she sighed and turned to face him. "Hey, Aang."

When she saw his face, she knew instantly that he was upset. "What's wrong?"

"You kissed Zuko."

This wasn't a question. Oddly enough, the question didn't unnerve Katara. "You heard." He nodded.

"Aang, I don't know what to say."

"It's okay." He replied, sitting down beside her. "I hurt you, and Zuko was there for you. I'm not upset at you."

Katara's blood ran cold. Realization and anger flared up inside her. Aang thought that Zuko was just a coping mechanism for her, a substitute for himself. It was at that moment that she knew for sure how untrue that was. How dare he assume that she had to answer to him for being with Zuko? She had never been angrier at her friend. And she had never been so aware of the difference between him and Zuko. Zuko would never be so self-focused. She felt a strong urge to run, to just run away, until she found Zuko, and run into his arms. But she knew that she had to face this. She had to close up this loose end.

"Aang, I'm in love with him."

She looked him dead on when she said this. As a result, she saw his dumbstruck reaction. His mouth literally fell open in shock. "You—with Zuko?"

She nodded.

"But… you can't!"

She smiled ruefully. "You say that like it's something I can control."

"B-but—think it through, Katara! It just doesn't make sense! I mean, he's—and you're-"

She shook her head, and stood up. "Don't you see, Aang? It's not something to 'think through.' It just is."

With that, she forced herself to meet his tear-filled eyes. "Aang, I wish you every happiness. But we will never be together."

He nodded. She wasn't sure if he understood, but regardless, as she walked away, back to her female friends, she felt that she did. And that meant something.

_**Hi Lovely Readers!**_

_**I'm back! I know, it has been an inexcusably long time since I've updated. But this story needs a conclusion, and I intend to give it one.**_

_**As always, thanks for sticking with me!**_


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